“Somchat and Poonsak,” Prachachon Party MPs, are closely monitoring the Phuket landfill fire and preparing to submit an urgent motion to the Prime Minister and Ministry of Interior to expedite nationwide waste management supervision.,
On 14 April 2026, reporters reported that on 13 April, Mr. Somchat Techathaworncharoen, Prachachon Party MP for Phuket Constituency 1, and Mr. Poonsak Janjampee, Prachachon Party party-list MP, have been closely following the fire situation at the Phuket landfill site.
Mr. Somchat has been monitoring the fire at the landfill near the end of Saphan Hin Cape, Mueang District, Phuket Province, since 11 April. The fire broke out in landfill pit number 5, covering about 60 to 70 rai (approx. 9.6 to 11.2 hectares) out of five pits in total. These contain at least 1,000,000 tons of accumulated waste, filling all pits and piled up over many years. The reason the accumulated 1,000,000 tons of waste cannot be incinerated is that currently, all of Phuket’s hazardous waste is sent daily to the Saphan Hin Cape incinerator at about 1,200 tons per day, while the incinerator’s capacity is only 700 tons per day.
Mr. Somchat said the new incinerator is expected to be completed around mid-2027, with a daily capacity of no less than 500 tons. Combined, the two incinerators will handle about 1,200 tons per day. However, incinerators require maintenance, and during shutdowns of 15 to 30 days for upkeep, waste is diverted to the landfill site, causing accumulation in already full landfill pits.
Mr. Somchat added that he has joined as a supporter of the disaster response committee because more than 200 households have been affected by smoke. This meets the criteria of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act, Section 4, under which the provincial governor will establish shelters for residents unable to stay in their homes, specifically the residents of the Saphan Hin community, Mueang Phuket District, Village No. 1. Surveys at the landfill site still detected smoke billowing from the pits throughout the day. Phuket City Municipality, in cooperation with local administrative bodies including Wichit Subdistrict Municipality, has joined firefighting efforts. The Mueang Phuket Police Station also sent water trucks to assist. He coordinated with the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation to deliver six-inch water pipes from the wastewater treatment pond to pump water for firefighting at the landfill site, covering a distance of 1.5 kilometers along the 3-kilometer landfill perimeter.
Recently, Mr. Somchat has continued monitoring the situation and urgently coordinated with water-pumping personnel to advance the placement of six-inch water pipes to spray water over three areas. Subsequently, Mr. Poonsak Janjampee, party-list MP of the Prachachon Party, arrived at the landfill site to join efforts. Mr. Poonsak proposed measures to the disaster prevention center staff stationed at the landfill entrance and observed that the road used by vehicles from the lower area to the upper landfill site does not meet engineering standards.
Afterwards, Mr. Somchat and Mr. Poonsak met with the Mayor of Phuket City Municipality to seek solutions and provide recommendations for managing the landfill site and waste during the period before the second incinerator becomes operational. They are also preparing to submit an urgent motion to accelerate government emergency funding to resolve Phuket’s waste management problems, which could otherwise affect tourism if the waste issue remains unaddressed or if fires occur again.
On 23 April, when the parliamentary session opens, Mr. Somchat and Mr. Poonsak will submit an urgent motion requesting the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior, responsible for nationwide waste management, to amend or issue new regulations allowing Phuket Province to allocate budget funds for disaster cases. They also urge expedited policy and legal amendments to the Public Procurement Act, as the Comptroller General’s Department often sets standard prices below market rates, making it difficult for local administrative organizations to find contractors to manage waste. Additionally, private excavators cannot be employed to remove waste to prevent fires due to procurement regulations.
In summary, the Prachachon Party MPs propose using drones equipped with temperature sensors to monitor underground heat in the waste to detect remaining hot spots. This would allow drilling into waste layers to inject water for cooling. They also suggest assessing the current landfill’s capacity to receive waste for better waste management planning, engineering designs to improve the existing landfill conditions to maximize waste capacity, and designing landfill management systems.
Examples include adjusting access roads for permanent waste dumping, reinforcing embankments to prevent slope sliding, constructing roads suitable for waste dumping in all seasons, designing traffic flow, calculating gas volumes, and installing gas collection pipes.