A three-day fire at the George Town landfill has been extinguished by the Cayman Islands Fire Service.
A statement from the Department of Environmental Health to the Cayman Compass on Tuesday, 20 Dec., said the fire was discovered on Saturday, 17 Dec. shortly after 7:30pm.
“Since then, the area has been monitored and finally extinguished… today,” said the DEH.
The cause of the fire is not clear; however, officials believe the blaze might have been a reignition of a fire from earlier this month.
The statement said, “It appears to be a continuation of the fire attended to on December 14 when a small outboard motor was excavated from the garbage in the area which could have contributed to the cause of the fire.”
The DEH said this is the fifth fire at the landfill so far this year, including three superficial fires that were sparked the same day the garbage was dumped, and extinguished shortly thereafter. The other two fires “had a heat source at depth requiring multiple attendances from CIFS and DEH to extinguish”.
The department added, “Members of the public and businesses are encouraged to take responsibility for the disposal of their garbage and to separate items such as batteries, motorized equipment like lawnmowers, chainsaw[s], weed[s] from the regular garbage. Their cooperation will greatly assist in reducing the risk from fires at the landfill.”
Currently, the DEH accepts small motorised equipment, free of charge, but cautions those items should never be mixed with general waste.
The DEH said prior to disposal of this type of equipment, people should be careful to drain any fuel or oils which must then be taken to the landfill for recycling.
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