Dump fire contained but still burning

| 02/03/2020 | 9 Comments
Fire officer battling a dump fire (file photo)

(CNS): A small but deep-seated fire at the George Town landfill, which has been burning since at least Saturday morning when it was discovered, is proving hard to completely extinguish. According to an update issued Monday afternoon, Cayman Islands Fire Service crews, working with staff from the Department of Environmental Health, are still battling the fire but are managing to keep it from escalating.

Authorities said that cautious excavation using mechanical diggers with continued damping down from CIFS monitors is preventing escalation and keeping any smoke to minimum. Fire crews will continue to work throughout Monday and reevaluate the situation this evening using thermal camera imagery.

“Whilst this type of fire is always challenging and operations protracted, in this case early notification and a quick intervention has prevented any rapid escalation and minimised any detrimental impact on surrounding residents and businesses,” CIFS said.


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Category: Local News

Comments (9)

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  1. Conflagrationist says:

    Some people want to move of ‘fix’ the dump. The dump is on fire. Fire consumes whatever is burnt.
    Has everyone lost the ability to add 2 plus 2?

  2. Anonymous says:

    Build that 50 storey tower on top of it!

  3. Anonymous says:

    We can weigh probability of dump fire suppression against the recent CIFS performance audit that suggested their full time and overtime paid crews struggled with all areas of professional career firefighter responsibilities beyond opening the fire station door, driving the trucks, and operating the sirens.

    • Anonymous says:

      Yes, but that’s 90% of the job. So, there’s that.

      • Anonymous says:

        Sure, 90% for false alarms, birthday parties, and kitten rescues. For showtime (like each unpredicted dump fire), a big part of the responsibility is routine anticipatory testing/maintenance/certification of hydrants around the island, firelane and foliage access is unimpaired. One would hope that the pre-submarining-Ivan fixture metal hasn’t fused together (ie. can still open valve), that there is expected water pressure behind it, and that hoses can be hooked up to pumper and other vehicles instinctively – even in the dark, even in blinding smoke. PWC gave CIFS near-zeroes on these.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Dart really wants to sell those CB houses.

  5. Spoon feed that BS says:

    Yeah sure, contained to the dump!

  6. Anonymous says:

    LOL! As I previously posted –

    1968, the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown ‘Fire!’ –

    I am the god of hell fire and I bring you
    Fire
    I’ll take you to burn
    Fire
    I’ll take you to learn
    I’ll see you burn!
    You fought hard and you saved and learned
    but all of it’s going to burn
    And your mind
    Your tiny mind
    You know you’ve really been so blind
    Now’s your time burn your mind
    You’re falling far too far behind
    Oh no
    Oh no
    Oh no
    You gonna burn!

    Says it all doesn’t it? The harsh reality is the dump is like a volcano – it’s always burning down below then every now and again it breaks through.

    Simple fact of life – it you pile trash in a big heap the combination of compression with natural decomp creates heat and that causes fires. I’m not even going to attempt to offer a solution to this cluster****.

  7. Anonymous says:

    You can not control chemical fires.

    A country could fix this issue in less than a month we take 20 years.

    Carbon Tax any one!?

    8
    2

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