VASCO
Three scrap vehicles were damaged when a garbage dump in an open space caught fire at Birla in Zuarinagar on Monday afternoon.
The fire that began as a small flame but soon grew into an inferno and began spreading to nearby areas.
Locals were quick to alert the Vasco fire station who immediately turned to the site. The fire was so huge that the Vasco fire station sought assistance from the Verna fire station and a fire brigade from the nearby Pradeep Phospates Limited (PPL), formerly known as Zuari Agro Chemicals Limited.
It took around three hours for all three fire tenders to control and prevent the fire from spreading to nearby commercial and residential properties.
Vasco Fire station incharge Dilip Bicholkar told reporters that the losses could be estimated at around Rs 2 lakh.
“The three scrap vehicles which had some goods inside which was also gutted in the fire and the fire also burnt tyres of a nearby tyre shop. There is a furniture shop and two other shops near the tyre shop, but we prevented the fire from spreading to those shops,” said Bicholkar.
“There seemed to be smoke coming from within the garbage dump. We then contacted the Dy Collector’s office and asked for two JCBs to open the dump and we then sprayed water to extinguish the fire.”
Bicholkar said there is a garbage dump at the open site and while people claimed the panchayat-appointed garbage contractor had dumped garbage there, the panchayat insisted this is not their site.
“I appeal to all relevant authorities to immediately clear all garbage from the site because these cases of fire happen here every year. These fire incidents cause huge losses to everyone in the area and this can be prevented if the garbage is permanently cleared from this site,” said Bicholkar.
