4 fire incidents in last 24 hours, air quality 'very poor'

Four fire-related incidents were reported in the capital in the last 24 hours, the fire office said.

The first major fire that broke out was at Bhalswa landfill site, where fire tenders and municipal engineers continued their operations till late into Monday.

"We still have three fire tenders at the spot. The call reporting it was received at 2.58 p.m. on Sunday. It has not been put out yet," a fire official said.

One of the three saturated landfills of Delhi, around 100 sq. metre area of the Bhalswa dumping yard caught fire as it contained exposed garbage which was not covered with debris. Harmful gases from the landfill sites often catch fire posing threat to Delhi's air-quality, currently recorded as very poor.

"Some uncovered garbage caught fire. We are trying to cover it using debris. The situation is under control," Sanjay Jain, Engineer, Department of Environment Maintenance Services (DEMS) at North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), that manages Bhalswa landfill site, told IANS.

The landfill site is spread over 40 acres and has gained about two metres in height since 2017, officials said. About 2,000 tonnes of mixed garbage is dumped into it everyday.

Delhi has three saturated landfills -- Ghazipur in the east, Okhla in the south and Bhalswa in the north. Only the one at Bawana in the northwest is a "solid waste dumping and processing site".

Earlier in the day, a fire broke out in a parking lot at central Delhi's Mori Gate, a fire official said. He said the fire was reported in a bus and a truck.

"Three tenders were immediately rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused. No casualties were reported."

Apart from the minor cases, four major fire-related incidents were registered in the capital in the past 24 hours, the official said.

Three incidents were reported in the city on Sunday including one in west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar, where a cylinder blast injured seven.

A call reporting the incident was received at 8.20 p.m. on Sunday. "The seven people suffered 50-60 per cent burns," the official said.

He said: "small incidents like electric wires catching fire or a blaze in garbage are minor. Apart from them, there have been four incidents so far in last 24 hours," he said.

On Sunday at 8.40 p.m., another incident was reported at West Delhi's Moti Nagar. A dozen fire tenders were sent to extinguish the fire, the official said.

--IANS

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