The Greater Chennai Corporation on Saturday announced that the fire in Perungudi dumpyard was put out after four days of firefighting with assistance from the personnel of Fire and Rescue Services and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB).
Even after the fire was put out in the afternoon on Saturday, four fire tenders were kept on standby. Officials have been monitoring the situation as environmental studies showed increase in emission of methane from the legacy waste.
Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi and other senior offficials and engineers were camping at the dumpyard.
Mr. Bedi on Saturday felicitated the engineers and firefighters involved in the firefighting operations.
On Saturday, a tweet from GCC said: “Thanks to all those who helped us working night and day for three days to completely put out the fire in the Perungudi dumpyard. Especially Fire Dept., Biomining Company- Zigma, @CHN_Metro_Water, TANGEDCO, and all the GCC officials who worked hard.”
On Wednesday, TNFRS deployed six vehicles, two skylifts, CMWSSB deployed six water tankers, GCC 11 vehicles and private agencies two vehicles for firefighting. The number of vehicles were increased in the past few days. The number of fire tenders were doubled and more than 120 firefighters were drafted for the work on Saturday.
Engineers and firefighters involved in the firefighting operations said they were not given any day off in the last four days. “On Saturday, the number of fire tenders was increased to 12. We were asked to work in three shifts as we were getting tired because of the smoke. Usually, we work in two shifts. But senior officials camped at the dumpyard and ensured that the fire was put out quickly,” said a fireman.
As the fire has been extinguished, the conservancy operations are expected to resume in all parts of the dumpyard shortly.
Dumping of municipal solid waste from zones such as Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Valasaravakkam is expected to resume shortly. Over 2,500 tonnes of municipal solid waste is dumped in Perungudi from southern zones of the city.
