Fire at dumping yard in Noida simmers for 4th day, 150 firefighters on spot

The fire at a dumping yard in Noida simmered for the fourth day on Thursday even as 150 personnel of the Fire Service Department continued with their round-the-clock efforts to completely douse it, according to officials.

As many as 15 fire tenders are deployed at the spot and an estimated 35 lakh litres of water has been used to control the fire, which was by Thursday evening contained to less than 15 per cent of the area and was expected to be completely doused by Friday, a senior officer said.

The fire broke out at a plot in Sector 32 which was being used as a dumping yard of Noida Authority's horticulture department to store pruned trees.

The site was filled with dry leaves and twigs too, where some unidentified miscreants allegedly ignited fire around 6 pm on Monday -- the day of the Holi festival -- according to authority officials.

A major fire broke out at the same location on May 18 last year and it took almost six days to completely douse it.

Noida's Chief Fire Officer Pradeep Kumar Choubey said 150 firefighters were deployed at the site as of Thursday evening and with the help of 15 water tenders trying to completely douse the flames that had erupted inside the plot, measuring 2 km by 1.5 km.

"Almost 85 per cent of the fire has been doused and it is contained in less than 15 per cent area now. Most of it is only smoke now. We are confident of dousing it by tomorrow," Choubey told PTI.

Overseeing the operation at the site, the CFO said the firefighting operation is continuing round-the-clock.

"We have 15 water tenders. Six of them have a capacity of 12,000 litres while the rest have 5,000 litres capacity. Ever since the fire broke out, these fire tenders have refilled water 40 to 50 times on average," Choubey said.

He said seven layers of "isolation" (also known as 'fireline' or 'firebreak') have been created at the site in a bid to check the further spread of the fire, which has impacted the air quality of the nearby areas in the city, too.

Choubey said isolations have been created to contain the spread of wildfire by digging a trench or channel in the ground with the help of bulldozers, and hand tools.