A major fire broke out at the Corporation garbage yard at Ariyamangalam on Wednesday, forcing residents of nearby colonies to flee for safety.
The fire, which started in the afternoon, was unprecedented since the dump yard was established about 40 years ago. The fire was first noticed in a garbage mound and it spread to other mounds like wildfire within a few minutes because of gusty winds. By the time the fire tenders from Tiruchi and Srirangam reached the spot, the flames had spread to almost all the mounds, spread over 47 acres of land, where thousands of tonnes of garbage had accumulated over several years.
Ravaging flames were visible even from a distance of five to eight km. The fire also threw up a dense cloud of white smoke across several residential colonies in Ariyamangalam and Kattur areas. Several residents, who were residing close to the dump yard, moved to safer areas as they struggled to avoid inhaling obnoxious fumes.
Not many people were able to go near the fire site due to the dense cloud and unbearable heat. The impact was felt on Tiruchi-Thanjavur road, where traffic moved at a snail’s pace as drivers had to take extra vigil due to poor visibility in the wake of thick smoke.
On information, 11 fire tenders from Tiruchi, Srirangam, Navalpattu, BHEL and other places were rushed to the spot. Similarly, the Corporation deputed all 15 water tankers to support the fire-fighting operation. However, the fire-fighters could not make any progress until 9 pm due to high wind velocity.
“It is unprecedented. I have not come across such a ravaging fire in the Ariyamangalam dump yard during my 20 years of service,” said a senior officer of Tiruchi Corporation, who is camping at the dump yard.
Since the task of extinguishing the fire turned out to be daunting, the Corporation officials sought the intervention of Tiruchi Collector K. Rajamani to seek the services of Collectors of Thanjavur, Pudukottai and neighbouring districts to depute fire tenders. Following this, fire tenders from Thirukattupalli, Pudukottai, Iluppur and Keeranur also joined the operation.
“All of our engineers, men and machinery have been deputed to contain the fire. We take all out efforts to extinguish it. However, the strong winds are working against it,” N. Ravichandran, Commissioner-cum-Special Officer of Tiruchi Corporation told The Hindu .
A fire officer said it had become a daunting task to control the fire mainly due to gusty winds. Besides the services of the entire fire and service personnel of Tiruchi, several men and fire tenders belonging to neighbouring districts had also been engaged in the operation.
It would take at least two to three days to control the fire, he added.
