Fire breaks out at Mumbai’s Deonar dumping ground, as temperature soars

As Mumbai reeled under a heat wave, fire broke out in the city’s largest landfill site at Deonar on Monday afternoon.

After smoke was spotted inside the dumping ground at 3.30pm, six fire tenders and three water tankers were rushed to the spot. Officials from the civic body’s disaster management cell called it a level two fire, which means it is not a major blaze. The fire is not spreading, officials said, adding that fire-fighting operations are underway.

This is not the first time that Deonar dumping ground, which holds 12 million tonnes of waste, has caught fire. A major fire broke out in February 2015, which was put out only after 10 days of fire-fighting operations. Since then every year, between January and March, several incidents of fire have been reported on the site. In 2016, the January-February period saw 11 fire incidents.

Last week too, a minor fire — called pocket fire — was reported.

Official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s solid waste management department said high temperature was the reason for the pocket fires.

After the 2015 blaze, the landfill was divided into six zones for more effective management of fires and for easier movement of fire tenders. Two fire tenders are stationed permanently near the dump yard, since 2015.