Fire breaks out in landfill site in Kannur; blaze under control

A fire broke out in the small hours of Sunday at a landfill site in Chelora area of this district and while the blaze is under control, firefighters are still working to completely extinguish the flames.

An officer of Chakkarakkal police station said the fire broke out around 4 AM at the huge landfill site, measuring over 20 acres, located 10 kms from Kannur city. The fire was brought under control in around an hour with the help of several fire tenders deployed at the site. A Kannur fire department official said while the blaze was under control, the flames have not been extinguished completely and work was going on in that regard. He also said that it was yet to be ascertained what caused the fire. On the other hand, the Mayor of Kannur Corporation, which manages the landfill site, claimed that the fire was set deliberately. ''Things were going on smoothly here. The biomining work was being effectively carried out. Some people who were not happy with how things were going on here, probably set the fire. Else there was no way a fire could have occurred there,'' Mayor T O Mohanan told PTI. He said that while the entire site measured around 23 acres, the waste was dumped only in a 5-6 acre space and the fire had broken out at one small end of the same. ''The fire erupted around 4AM and it was quickly controlled. There is some smoke coming from the place, so fire personnel are examining if there are any small fires.'' In March, a huge fire had broken out at the Brahmapuram waste treatment plant in Kochi and it continued to burn for nearly two weeks releasing toxic smoke that engulfed many parts of the port-city for days.

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