Another fire at Deonar, officials say it’s worse than Jan

Fire brigade officials claim complete dousing might take at least two-three days if wind pattern doesn’t change

Fires at the city’s largest dumping ground, Deonar, have become a rule than exception.

A major fire broke out again at the Deonar dumping ground on Sunday after a negligible fire was reported on Saturday evening.

Till late Sunday evening, the fire brigade could not succeed in dousing it, as the wind velocity from west to east intensified, resulting in the rapid spread of the fire.

This has been the third such incident since the first major fire wreaked havoc in January. Hours before the Deonar fire, a similar incident was reported from the Mulund dumpyard on Saturday night. It was brought under control by midnight. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials said, the fire at Deonar was reported at multiple locations.

Civic authorities claimed it could be much bigger and worse than the January fire, as garbage was found to be burning in at least seven to eight places, including Rafiq Nagar, Vashi creek and Road number 15 at Mankhurd. The fire brigade grappled to douse the inferno because the area is huge and wind velocity made it worse.

Though the cause of the fire is not known, the fire brigade department deployed 10 engines and eight water tankers to control it. According to the civic officials, on Saturday there was a small fire in the dumping ground. However, the fire intensified on Sunday afternoon making lives of the residents miserable. Navi Mumbai resident Vinod Punshi said throughout Sunday, the smoke had spread all the way up to Vashi and even Belapur. “When we went out for evening walk, there was hardly any visibility. There is an irritation in the eyes. We are forced to keep our windows shut,” he said.

Assistant municipal commissioner of M-east (Govandi), Kiran Dighavakar said, “We are facing a big problem, as fire is erupting from different locations. We have increased the number of water tankers and to provide a speedy supply of water, filling stations at Deonar abattoir and RCF have been opened.”