A fire at the Söke containerboard mill of Turkish company Kipas Kagit has been keeping the fire brigades busy for five days now. According to state news agency Anadolu Ajansı, the fire broke out on Friday, 12 July at 5 p.m. and has not yet been completely extinguished.
The fire-fighting teams had difficulty in intervening the fire, which spread over a wide area due to the wind. On the evening of 16 July, they were still working to contain it. However, the fire was reportedly partially brought under control.
Anadolu reports that the fire covered an area of 240 hectares and 140,000 t of paper went up in flames. Reinforcement teams from 23 provinces were dispatched to the paper mill.
At the Söke mill, Kipas Kagit produces recycled corrugated case material and several board grades in grammages between 90 and 400 g/m². The PM has a capacity of 730,000 tpy. A second recycled corrugated case material machine with a capacity of 650,000 tpy was planned to be started up at the site at the end of 2023.
