Heatwave leads to fire at city’s Deonar dump

MUMBAI: The sudden heatwave across the city has also affected the Deonar dumping ground as a fire broke out there on Monday afternoon.

Civic officials have attributed it to the rise in temperatures, which led to combustion in heaps of garbage at the dump site.

According to the civic officials, the fire erupted in some pockets of the Deonar dump near Baba Nagar and Rafique Nagar and spread rapidly owing to the strong winds in the area.

Six water tankers and six fire engines were pressed into action to control the fire. However till late evening the firemen were not able to bring the flames into control.

“Decomposition of garbage due to rise in temperatures releases methane. This causes spontaneous combustion leading to fire in the dumps,” said the civic official.

The fire brigade officials said that they were facing several challenges in dousing the flames considering there is yet no proper road to reach the fire spot.

However officials have not ruled out the possibility of a fire caused by some miscreants but said that it was yet to be investigated.

Deonar landfill covers a total area of 132 hecatres. On an average the height of municipal solid waste at thedumping ground is 20 metres, at some spots like near Rafiq Nagar it goes upto 35 metres too.

City swelters

The city continued to witness heatwave on second consecutive day with Monday recording the maximum temperature of 38 degree centigrade. Alone with high temperature, there were also hot winds during the afternoon. The humility was also on the higher side making the heat unbearable. As it was the first working day of the week, Mumbaikars faced the wrath of heat wave more than yesterday, which was a Sunday.