The Cayman Islands Fire Service has extinguished the fire at the George Town landfill and is expected to assess the site Thursday to determine next steps.
“The incoming officer-in-charge will further assess the situation, and recommend any required operational tactics as necessary, to ensure it does not reignite,” a CIFS statement said Thursday morning.
Overnight, fire fighters and Department of Environmental Health staff worked on the fire, which was first reported at 7:30pm Wednesday, at the top southwest corner of the mound area where waste is disposed.
A small flare-up occurred at approximately 1:30am Thursday, the statement said, but was quickly extinguished “using safe systems of work and the area of concern was continually damped with no other issues arising”.
The damping operation was shut down at 7:30am, with equipment remaining in place, and DEH monitoring the area, the statement added.
In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, DEH said it was likely that recently deposited waste caused the fires in April and May, with batteries the possible “culprit”.
“We have been ramping up our messages to help the community better understand the risks of improperly disposing batteries and the hazardous results this can cause,” said Michael Haworth, DEH assistant director of solid waste.
Wednesday’s fire is the latest blaze at the dump and the first since the formal signing of the contract between the Progressives government and a Dart-led consortium for the multi-million dollar Integrated Solid Waste Management System project at the landfill.
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