COIMBATORE: The fire that started at the Vellore dump yard on Saturday night, the one that Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) officials on Sunday claimed had been successfully extinguished, has now spread over a 100 acres of land by Monday morning. Even as Air Force’s helicopter has been engaged in the operation, officials have now said that it will take three more days for the fire to settle. This is the first the Air Force has been called in to douse a fire.
Besides the helicopter, there are as many as 29 fire tenders (brought in from Tirupur, Tiruchy, Erode, Dindigul, Salem, Dharmapuri and Namakkal districts) and 600 workers on the job; earthmovers have also been deployed. Around 80 lorries have been fetching water from various places. Yet, the fire is continuing to spread to other parts of the dump yard.
On Saturday, the fire had broken out in a small portion of the yard where old unsegregated waste had been deposited. It had taken around five hours to keep it from spreading to others parts of the yard. However, the winds caused the fire to devour other portions of the yard on Sunday. This forced the corporation to seek the assistance of Fire and Rescue Service department and its additional fire tenders.
Water tanks too were sent for the purpose. Despite all this effort, the fire spread further in the early hours of Monday and has now ravaged over 100 acres of the 650-acre yard. Fire fighters tried to control the fire within a circle but in vain.
Another 3 days to contain fire
CCMC officials mentioned that it is the second major fire accident in the last 10 years. “Rise in temperature and presence of methane gas is suspected to be the cause of the fire. It will be another three days before the fire settles down,” an official said