Firefighters took over three hours to put out the blaze. (Representational image)A minor fire broke out on Thursday at the Deonar dumping ground, the city’s largest landfill site.
Firefighters took over three hours to put out the blaze. After smoke was spotted inside the dumping ground at 1.17 pm, four fire engines were rushed to the spot. Officials from the BMC’s disaster management cell called it a Level-2 fire – not a major blaze.
This is not the first time that the dumping ground, which holds 12 million tonne of waste, has caught fire. A major fire broke out in February 2015, which was put out by firemen after a 10-day battle. Since then, every year, between January and March, several fires have been reported at the landfill site. In 2016, January-February saw 11 fires. Last year, a fire broke out in March, which took two days to put out.
Following the 2015 fire, the civic body took several steps to prevent fires from spreading. Trenches have been dug around each dump hill and two fire engines stationed at the site.
