Firefighters are at the scene of a fire that broke out Tuesday night at the George Town landfill.
A spokesperson at the 911 Public Safety Communications Centre said the Fire Service had been alerted shortly after 8pm this evening, and at 9pm said crews were tackling an “active fire”.
High winds, of between 15 and 20 knots, had fanned the fire.
However, flames that had been seen at the site appeared to have been doused by the fire crews by 9:20pm.
A spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Health confirmed there was a “small surface fire” at the landfill, saying it was “fully out” by 9:50pm.
The landfill has been plagued with fires over the years, though remediation work has meant parts of the old site that have been covered are no longer prone to fires.
However, with the ReGen waste management deal between Dart and the government remaining uncompleted, fresh mounds of uncovered trash have been piling up at the landfill.
Last year, firefighters spent more than 170 hours fighting nine separate blazes at the site. More than 50 fires erupted at the landfill between 2018 and 2022.
Opposition MP Joey Hew, in whose constituency the landfill sits, said of the latest fire, “This is a stark reminder of how quickly the landfill can become a major hazard if it is not managed properly. It also demonstrates the urgency of the waste-to-energy facility and the dangers of an over-capacity landfill site.”
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