After a gap of two months, fire broke out again at the legacy waste site of Mangaluru City Corporation in Panchchanady on the outskirts of the city on Monday, March 13. Nine fire tenders and several MCC personnel worked hard to douse the fire that came under control at around 5 p.m.
Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner K. Channabasappa said the fire was noticed around 1.30 p.m. at a corner of the legacy waste site. “As the temperature was hot, the intensity of the fire was also more compared to the one in January,” he said.
Five fire tenders worked to continuously pour water on the area. Firemen worked in tandem with personnel from MCC and other government staff to isolate the area. “We succeeded in putting off the fire at around 5 p.m. Smoke continues to emanate from the area,” Mr. Channabasappa said.
District Fire Officer Mohammed Nawaz said the fire this time was in a small area compared to the one that had occurred in January. The fire was at the portion of the legacy waste that was being cleared. Apart from five fire tenders of the department, four fire engines from industries were used to put off the fire.
Firemen have been working continuously for last 15 days attending to fire in forest and rural areas, Mr. Nawaz said.
Leader of Opposition in MCC Council Naveen R. D’Souza said MCC has failed o take adequate measures to prevent re-occurrence of fire. MCC has not installed sprinklers as promised and it has just sunk a borewell in the locality. MCC officers failed to anticipate fire in light of rising temperature. Incident reflects failure of legislators of Mangaluru City D. Vedavyas Kamath and Y. Bharath Shetty and also of Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel, he said.
Fire was first noticed this year at the legacy waste site on January 6. More than 15 fire tenders and 150 personnel worked to put off the fire. This fire occurred few days after the agency, which was assigned by MCC to clear the legacy waste, started its work. The schools in vicinity were closed for few days to prevent students from getting affected by the smoke.
