Landfill fire yet to be put out

Two days on, fire force personnel and the Bengaluru Rural district authorities are still struggling to put out the fire that broke out at the Terra Firma-managed landfill near Doddaballapur on Friday night.

The thick smoke emanating from the burning garbage is causing health problems – like shortness of breath, cough and burning sensation in the eyes – to the residents of villages within a 10 km radius of the landfill. Four children Shwetha (4), Rohit (6), Bindu (6) and Guruprasad (4) from Gundlahalli village near the landfill, have been hospitalised.

The residents say that the stench from the burning garbage is so strong that they are unable to eat nor drink. “The entire Gundlahalli village would have been engulfed in flames, had the authorities been a little late. Thankfully, the water tankers arrived on time,” Hanumatharayappa, a resident of Gundlahalli, told Deccan Herald on Sunday.
Bengaluru Rural Superintendent of Police Ramesh B said, the fire could not be controlled as the fire tenders are finding it tough to move across the uneven terrain.

“It is said that the cause of fire was an electrical mishap. But it needs to be investigated,” he said.

The authorities have resorted to soil capping to contain the fire, as advised by the fire personnel. This means to dump soil over the material that has caught fire. “This is helping us control the fire. We will carry out the process to completely douse the it,” said Ramesh.

A fire force official said that despite pouring water over the landfill, fire still burns underneath the garbage. “It is possible to extinguish the fire only when earthmovers are deployed and the machines scrabble the waste. We are keeping a tab on the village so that the fire does not spread.”

Garbage trucks from the City are now heading to the MASGP landfill at the nearby Chigarenahalli to dump trash. At least 80 to 100 trucks dumped garbage there on Sunday. Garbage from the City was dumped at the Terra Firma landfill since 2007. The quantity of garbage dumped here has increased since the Mandur landfill shutdown in December last.