Fire and rescue personnel attempting to douse the fire contained in the Brahmapuram waste therapy plant on February 4, Saturday, morning.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
Even as they proceed to be choked by thick plumes of dangerous smoke ejected by tonnes of piled up plastic waste on fire at Kochi Corporation’s strong waste therapy plant in Brahmapuram, Kochiites had been dealt a contemporary blow because the civic physique quickly suspended collection of waste from households on Saturday citing the unstable state of affairs at its plant.
Mayor M. Anilkumar stated that the waste collection needs to be suspended since within the prevailing circumstances lorries can’t strategy the plant to unload the waste. The waste collection will resume as soon as the fire is totally doused and the state of affairs is introduced below management, he stated.
Toxic blaze
A video on the foremost fire that broke out at Kochi Corporation’s Brahmapuram strong waster therapy plant
| Video Credit:
Thulasi Kakkat
Blanket of thick fumes
Nearly 48 hours after the fire breakout in Brahmapuram, many elements of town remained below blankets of thick fumes coupled with the odour of burnt plastic. The state of affairs in areas like Vytilla, Tripunithura, Maradu, Kundannoor was no completely different on Saturday morning from what it was on the earlier 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,” stated Mr. Anilkumar.
Indian Navy deployed a number of helicopters for aerial spraying of water. They carried out a number of sorties earlier than being quickly halted because the smoke created visibility points. Navy has put an officer in cost of the mission and I’m coordinating with him, stated Mr. Anilkumar.
Also learn | Exposure to poisonous fumes can result in well being hazards, warn well being specialists
Firefighters not too optimistic
Many firefighters have suffered vomiting and dizziness resulting from lengthy publicity to poisonous fumes from the burning plastic waste
| Photo Credit:
THULASI KAKKAT
Notwithstanding mayor’s optimism of controlling the state of affairs by night, fire and rescue companies remained extra circumspect in regards to the potential period of the mission contemplating how an identical fire previously took 5 days of firefighting to revive normalcy.
Fire and rescue companies 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 steady publicity to a really dangerous setting.
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,” stated J. S. Sujith Kumar, Regional Fire Officer, Ernakulam.
That the piles of plastic waste hardly have any separating hole has made the life of firefighters even harder. Had there been a minimum of a 10-meter hole between the piles, we’d have been capable of douse the fire on piles individually and moved on with larger management over the state of affairs,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Anilkumar has welcomed any probe into allegations of sabotage resulting in the fire breakout. There had been additionally accusations that the plastic waste was intentionally set ablaze.
