A paper mill, located at kilometer 14.5 of Camino General Belgrano, municipality of QuilmesBuenos Aires province, caught fire this afternoon and the firefighters who are currently fighting to control the fire said that they will have to continue working through tonight so that the disaster does not spread to the surrounding areas.
The paper mill named Papel Pampa required at least 10 firefighters who arrived from the barracks quilmeños from Florida, San Francisco Solano, Bernal, himself Quilmes and Florencio Varela. The Civil Defense, Police and Urban Patrol of the municipality also participated in the attempts to appease the incident.
The flames that engulfed the complex in Quilmes they caused a roof to collapse and consumed two tanks. Papel Pampa carried on its operations after Grupo NOA bought the land and assets of the former Massuh industrial plant in July 2013.
Firefighters at the scene said: “The situation is not extinguished, there will be many hours of work to extinguish the fire. There is a lot of flammable material piled up. We can’t get to the middle.” On the other hand, they explained that the strong gusts of wind hinder the work in the zone and the situation could quickly become complicated.
Trash trajectory
For 40 years, a private group dedicated to the creation of paper operated in the complex. Later, Héctor Massuh, former president of the Industrial Unit, would compete with a debt of 249 million dollars, which he owed mainly to the Nation, Province and City banks.
After ten years, the company stopped producing paper and its 500 workers were suspended for six months without pay. The company filed for bankruptcy and, in May 2009, Guillermo Moreno, who at that time was Secretary of Internal Commerce, intervened.
The rescue attempt failed, despite the fact that Moreno set up a conglomerate between the National Executive, the municipality of Quilmes and Banco Nación. The former Secretary of Internal Commerce negotiated for the main supermarket chains to buy paper supplies from the company; however, after 12 months, it accumulated losses of 15 million pesos.
