Crews facing hazardous blaze at dump, says chief
(CNS): A combination of windy conditions and the nature of the mixed-waste materials at the scrap metal area of the landfill contributed to the hazardous blaze that fire crews faced when they arrived on scene this morning, Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker said at a last minute lunchtime briefing at GIS. The CFO said it was too early to identify what started this latest treacherous fire but an investigation would be carried out. In the meantime, with some 20 firefighters, three tanks, two pumps and several other support vehicles at the site, fire crews were “making excellent progress”, he said. At the time of the briefing (around 1:30pm), some four hours after the fire started, it had not yet spread to the nearby waste tyre area.
Walker said that none of the fire officers had been hurt during the difficult fire-fight and he expected that the smoke plume that was extending across the Esterley Tibbetts Highway towards the West Bay Road would be under control later this afternoon. However, he said he did not expect that the blaze would be extinguished until well into the night. He said fire crews would stay on site until it was put out. At around 4:30pm officials added that the plume emanating from the site had been significantly reduced and now predominately includes steam from water used to extinguish the fire. .
The fire chief also said that today’s previously planned accident aviation exercise still went ahead, as the service was capable of dealing with two incidents at the same time. He explained that the central station had responded to this fire while West Bay and Frank Sound crews were on standby ready to be deployed if necessary. He also confirmed that off-duty officers had also been called in, given the magnitude of the fire.
People are being advised to stay away from the area as the Esterley Tibbetts Highway is closed, and RCIPS Superintendent Brad Ebanks said traffic is congested as a result of the diversions. He urged everyone to avoid any travel if it was not urgent. Meanwhile, Danielle Coleman, the director of Hazard Management Cayman Islands, which is coordinating the joint response, said shelters were on standby.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health, Local News
The dump Fire and smoke looks just as dirty as our current politicians on 14th April 2021 put their political pollution out for good Cayman Vote for change !
How in the world a sane person would choose Cayman to raise children? Your turquoise sea is as contaminated as the land.
Who said there were any sane people on Cayman?
Certainly won’t be after breathing in any of that c***!
I was opposed to moving the dump to Bodden Town if Dart turned it over to the same people that run the George Town dump. We would have had the same mess unless most people involved in this one were let go. There should have never been that large a car or tyre pile anywhere much less George town.
time for a class action lawsuit against government for their incompetence and negligience on this issue.
They should be in prison already, but you will elect them again in 3 weeks.
Only Mentally challenged population can do it again and again and again….
Since solving the problem using local “expertise” is impossible, they simply have no idea what to do being severely nearsighted, involving world’s experts, such as Japanese companies, is the only way to go. It might bankrupt the territory, but it will be done. There’s no other way out of this mess.
So many Polychlorinated Bifenals and Dioxins, so little time.
9.39pm Are you referring to politicians?.
Pour a few hundred tons of concrete on the site like the Japanese did with their nuclear reactor. Seal it up forever. We can make it our tomb of idiocy. Let it stand as a monument to always reminds us of the political incompetence we tolerated for decades.
Tape up your windows. That smoke is death. It’s the unfiltered funk of 60 years… and it wants inside your lungs.
#lame
Drama queen
Seal it up? It’s unlined! You’re just going to put a lid on it.
It is inside your every cell. Dying from cancer and neurological disorders is very very slow and very painful and very lonely.
Yeah, pour concrete over it and start new dump nearby.
The Dump is “alive” and combustible. No amount of concrete would tame the brewing volcano.
A few hundred tons? You must be joking. Try a few thousand tons….. or maybe a million!
And next to this breaking news is the Premier promising an increase in stipends. A few days ago, the “Environmental Minister” admitted that he was not an environmentalist. WTF is happening with our Country/Islands. This government must definitely be rid of this term.
What a contrast to the beautiful pristine sea. Governments and DART should be ashamed and disgusted with themselves!
7:38, why should DART be ashamed, he offered government a new facility for FREE and government turned it down to appease a small group of voters in Bodden Town. They offered to buy the land, build the facility, and turn it over to government, a $35 million gift, for FREE. Ozzie and the PPM turned it down, and this is the result. You can blame a lot of people and governments, but Dart is not one of them.
No dump in Bodden Town explicitly meant keep it close to the largest concentration of population, close to the economic lifeblood of tourism and financial service and close to one of Cayman’s most precious natural resources, the North Sound. All so Ozzie could get elected. Let’s not talk about how foreigners screw us over – we do a great job doing that to ourselves. Crabs in a bucket.
turn it over to government…🙄😂🤯
8:52pm – You ignoramus, NOTHING is free.
NOTHING Dart has done is for free. But you just keep drinking that Kool-Aid LOL
And then wait for the planning approval to build the iconic tower. LMAO
The dump is our iconic tower! We need to keep that forever as a National Monument! How dare Dart try to take our dump away! (For you morons too dense to figure it out, this is sarcasm).
Dart is in it for Dart…. not for you… not for anyone but himself.
Nothing is free, probably more concessions granted and Carte Blanche to do whatever they want. Why did it take more than four years to hammer out the dump deal. This only spell one thing it has become an election bargaining chip for the numpty Unity crooks.
What a mess. Every three months ir so total environmental disaster from that bunch of people unable to deal with waste correctly and a govt burying its head for years. Bravo just bravo
Lipstick on a pig
Vote for Jon Jon he will get it sorted!
The only solution is a government coup.
John John as Caymans first and immortal grand supremo dictator for life.
No more British influence. John John’s face to replace the Queen on all notes. ( Apart from the one which will be his wife and personal trainer under a full moon. )
In no time at all he’ll turn around the islands. From backward banana republic to first among equals. Biden and Putin waiting in holiday inn quarantine just for the opportunity to bow down before the Supremo.
It’s the one valid solution to this shit show. With support by the mighty Caymanian regiment and our blindingly dangerous navy he will assume his rightful role in April.
John John Bless us all.
On the back of the currency with John John’s face will be an image of Mary riding a jackass.
Bubba Shrimp
Isn’t it strange that the photo shows something that looks like tires burning….
and it is uncanny that the smoke looks like the same smoke that burning tires produce ! Can this be something spawned by the coming election? Hmmm.
Tires or plastic, or both? I’d bet on both :-{
Research Dioxins. PEL around 50 Parts Per TRILLION.
If they can’t see it, smell it, or touch it, it doesn’t exist. Airborne particles are invisible.
Every sq.inch of everything, indoor and outdoor, that is within 3 miles radius from the Dump is contaminated not only with PEL but who knows what else.
Way more than 3 miles! They had an incident in the UK back in the 1980s where a medical waste incinerator malfunctioned and the toxic fallout from that was (and apparently is still being) detected 40 miles downwind. The problem with this s*** is it doesn’t quietly go away.
There is no PEL or TLV or any air quality regulation for that matter in Cayman. We live in an unregulated jurisdiction. Anything goes!
Honest question, who benefits?
Who benefits from what??
Exactly.
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