CHENNAI: A fire broke at the Kodungaiyur dump yard on Sunday afternoon, which spread on about two acres and covered vast areas with dense white smoke.
Firefighters and Greater Chennai Corporation staff brought the blaze under control after more than three hours, using seven excavators to lift portions of the garbage and pour water over them. Owing to lack of space, fire engines struggled to enter the site. Around 5.20 pm on Sunday, an official said 95% of the fire had been doused.
T K Shanmugam, president of the Federation of North Chennai Residents’ Welfare Association, described it as one of the major fires in recent times and urged the civic body to address the repeated incidents.
“Old waste at the dump yard must be cleared expeditiously through bio-mining. Until then, permanent monitoring systems, fire safety measures and smoke pollution prevention measures must be put in place to prevent further fire incidents. The lives and health of the people of Kodungaiyur must not be risked,” he said.
Asked about the repeated fires at the dump yard, a senior SWM official said they were caused by methane generated from biodegradable waste and claimed that no fire had been reported since July.
In June, at least two fires were reported at the dump yard within a week.
The official alleged that ragpickers had set fire to the garbage to extract metals. However, a Vyasarpadi resident said, “Ragpickers won’t do it, as their livelihood depends on this dumpyard.”