KOCHI: The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Thrissur, which analysed the samples collected from the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant concluded that it was a subsurface fire that spread at the plant. FSL experts collected samples from five spots at the plant to find the reasons for the fire.
The report prepared by Abdul Rasak T, assistant director (Chemistry), FSL, Thrissur, states that the nature of the fire and its extension beyond landfill boundaries indicate that it was not a surface fire but an obscured subsurface fire. It could have been triggered by the spontaneous combustion of solid waste from the heat generated by landfill gases.
“The landfill contained a large variety of solid waste, each one having different thermal characteristics. The materials at the source of the fire which are likely to ignite spontaneously could have been the cause. Factors like moisture content, oxygen abundance, wind speed at the southern side of the landfill, and elevated atmospheric temperature during the peak of summer could have escalated the subsurface heat generation in the garbage layer and thereby triggering the fire,” stated the report.