For the past 14 days, the new tipping site of the George Town landfill has been smouldering with no clear end in sight, while fire officials remain tight-lipped about the ongoing incident.
In response to questions from the Cayman Compass, a spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Health referred staff to the Cayman Islands Fire Service.
Questions sent to the CIFS have gone unanswered.
Fire officers were first observed at the landfill on or around Friday, 3 Feb., and it is not clear if they have been tackling the same problem or a series of incidents over this period.
During the past two weeks, the fire officers, together with DEH staff, have been observed shifting to different sections of the mound in what appears to be an attempt to tackle the flare-up.
Although activity at the landfill has remained constant for more than two weeks, fire officers seem to have contained the situation, with no flames visible from the road.
The cause of the flare-up is unknown; however, Cayman Compass understands that the site has not been compacted since the DEH’s only compactor went offline in April 2022.
DEH is currently awaiting the delivery of its new compactor.
It is unclear how many fires have occurred at the landfill since the start of 2023. However, through a freedom of information request, the Compass has learned that there were nine reported fires in 2022.
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