Second fire at Mumbai’s Deonar dump in a week

Four fire tenders, four water tankers and one ambulance were rushed to the spot. The fire was brought under control after two hours.

A fire broke out in the city’s largest dumping ground, at Deonar, on Friday. This was the second fire at the 132-acre dump yard in a week.

It took almost 10 days to control a fire that broke out at the dump yard in Deonar on March 20. (HT FILE)

Four fire tenders, four water tankers and one ambulance were rushed to the spot. The fire was brought under control after two hours.

“The fire was brought under control around 5pm,” said a BMC official, requesting anonymity.

“We will try and lodge a complaint with the police as the police did not lodged a complaint for the fire earlier this week,” he said.

Around 5,000- 6,000 metric tonnes of untreated waste is dumped at the dumping ground every day.

In January, a major fire broke out at the dumping ground which took firefighters a week to control it. Since then, eight fire incidents have been reported from the landfill. Another massive fire broke out at the dump yard on March 20 which took almost 10 days to be brought under control.

Experts said the unsystematic dumping of waste for more than 98 years had led to accumulation of combustible methane gas that has been stoking fires.

In April, the Bombay high court appointed a six-member monitoring committee to regulate Deonar landfill and ensure that there are no fires. The committee will also keep a tab on the civic body’s adherence to deadlines.

However, the committee which has met a few times is not happy with the BMC’s progress in tackling the waste and controlling fire at the dump yard.

Suspecting sabotage, the BMC had proposed to declare Deonar dump yard as a ‘prohibited area’ in March. It is yet to receive a reply from the state government.

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