A fire still burning in the Beetham landfill is causing smoke to continue spreading into Port-of-Spain, but president of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (Doma) Gregory Aboud says sustained rainfall will bring relief. Chief Fire Officer Nayar Rampersad said on Thursday though fire officers were at the landfill last weekend trying to extinguish it, it appeared they were unsuccessful.
“The fire is a deep-seated fire. It is below piles of garbage, which makes it a laborious task and very difficult to get to,” Rampersad said. Assistant Chief Fire Officer Bruce told the T&T Guardian that fire officers were no longer at the scene, as equipment and manpower from the regional corporation were being used.
In a news bulletin sent late Thursday afternoon, the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd (SWMCOL) said work was continuing, with most of the efforts being focused on the remaining area where the fire was far below the surface. “Even though this area is less than ten per cent of the original fire, it was still producing lots of smoke, which, along with the changing wind, caused the smoke to drift toward NP and the city,” it said.
Environment Management Authority (EMA) CEO Joth Singh was reported yesterday as saying citizens should avoid inhaling the smoke coming from the Beetham. Singh could not be reached for further comment. In an interview yesterday, Aboud said while his organisation was concerned about the recurrence of smoke emanating from the landfill, they knew from experience that sustained rainfall would bring relief.
“Frankly, we have many other issues which are attracting our attention that speak more closely to the economic health of Port-of-Spain, and this situation at the garbage disposal site is forced to stand in line behind a list of urgent pressing matters,” he said. He said the organisation recognised that a long-term solution was required, since on occasion smoke from the Beetham Highway had reached as far as the Chaguaramas Peninsula.
He noted, “While recognising that several individuals literally dig out a living for themselves at the site, we feel that greater control should be exerted over the practice of lighting fires to salvage various metals that are disposed in the general waste.”