Fire and rescue personnel trying to douse the fire inside the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant on February 4, Saturday, morning.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
Even as they continue to be choked by thick plumes of harmful smoke ejected by tonnes of piled up plastic waste on fire at Kochi Corporation’s solid waste treatment plant in Brahmapuram, Kochiites were dealt a fresh blow as the civic body temporarily suspended collection of waste from households on Saturday citing the volatile situation at its plant.
Mayor M. Anilkumar said that the waste collection has to be suspended since in the prevailing circumstances lorries cannot approach the plant to unload the waste. The waste collection will resume once the fire is completely doused and the situation is brought under control, he said.
Toxic blaze
A video on the major fire that broke out at Kochi Corporation’s Brahmapuram solid waster treatment plant
| Video Credit:
Thulasi Kakkat
Blanket of thick fumes
Nearly 48 hours after the fire breakout in Brahmapuram, many parts of the city remained under blankets of thick fumes coupled with the odour of burnt plastic. The situation in areas like Vytilla, Tripunithura, Maradu, Kundannoor was no different on Saturday morning from what it was on the previous morning.
“We are expecting to completely douse the fire by today evening. We are conducting a coordinated firefighting work by splitting the entire 40-odd acres across which the plastic waste is spread into six sectors. While one sector is managed by Indian Navy, one by BPCL, the other four sectors are being managed by fire and rescue services,” said Mr. Anilkumar.
Indian Navy deployed multiple helicopters for aerial spraying of water. They conducted multiple sorties before being temporarily halted as the smoke created visibility issues. Navy has put an officer in charge of the mission and I am coordinating with him, said Mr. Anilkumar.
Also read | Exposure to toxic fumes can lead to health hazards, warn health experts
Firefighters not too optimistic
Many firefighters have suffered vomiting and dizziness due to long exposure to toxic fumes from the burning plastic waste
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT
Notwithstanding mayor’s optimism of controlling the situation by evening, fire and rescue services remained more circumspect about the potential duration of the mission considering how a similar fire in the past took 5 days of firefighting to restore normalcy.
Fire and rescue services had deployed 20 tenders and over 120 firefighters from Ernakulam, Kottayam and Thrissur districts. Many firefighters have complained of vomiting and dizziness owing to their continuous exposure to a very harmful environment.
Various challenges
“It is not easy to douse the fire engulfing plastic piled up to a height of around 50 feet. While fire may not be visible, it will still be simmering from the bottom and spreading to more areas at the ground level. Smoke remains the biggest challenge and it switches directions with little notice depending on the direction of the wind and it is near impossible to be near it when that happens,” said J. S. Sujith Kumar, Regional Fire Officer, Ernakulam.
That the piles of plastic waste hardly have any separating gap has made the life of firefighters even tougher. Had there been at least a 10-meter gap between the piles, we would have been able to douse the fire on piles separately and moved on with greater control over the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Anilkumar has welcomed any probe into allegations of sabotage leading to the fire breakout. There were also accusations that the plastic waste was deliberately set ablaze.
