Dump fire finally out, says chief fire officer

(CNS): Chief Fire Officer Paul Walker confirmed Wednesday that one of the most challenging and persistent fires ever seen at the George Town landfill has been fully extinguished. As most Cayman Islands Fire Service (CIFS) officers prepared to leave the site after almost three weeks, Walker said that smoke is no longer emitting from the site and all hot-spots have been identified and doused. Some fire officers will remain at the scene today and overnight as a precaution in case of re-ignition. The RCIPS helicopter will also be deployed to provide aerial images.

Walker said that CIFS and the Department of Environmental Health had “worked meticulously to resolve this challenging and protracted incident. Taking this approach has greatly reduced the chance of re-ignition across the site.”

Saying that he expected that fire officers would no longer be required at the landfill from tomorrow morning, he added that CIFS would continue to work closely with DEH staff and and that he had instructed the dump workers to inform the fire service “as soon as any potential signs of ignition, however small, are identified”.

Walker added that he was “immensely proud” of the fire crews and partner agencies, who had put in great effort, working long hours, to tackle a difficult situation and put the fire out.

Meanwhile, with the COVID-19 outbreak and efforts to contain and protect the Cayman population from this serious pandemic, government is entirely preoccupied. It is not clear whether or not the planned remediation of the garbage heap, which DECCO, Dart’s construction company, was expected to start earlier this month will now go ahead.

It is certain, however, that the battle against the spread of COVID-19 will take priority over the apparently derailed talks between government and DECCO. Negotiations over the details of the larger contract for the national waste management plan and the waste-to-energy project are understood to have virtually collapsed, since the Dart company, which was selected to take on the project, appears to be disinclined to undertake the work.