Parts of Kochi were engulfed in smoke after a massive fire broke out at the Brahmapuram waste plant in the city, forcing the Kerala government to advise people in the neighbourhood to stay indoors in order to prevent exposure to the harmful smoke it generated. The fire continued to rage after two days even as the Indian Navy joined the efforts of local administration and response teams to douse the fire.
The fire broke out in the waste dumped at the plant on Thursday.
As concerns grew over the worsening air quality in Kochi, Ernakulam district Collector Dr Renu Raj expressed hope that the situation could be brought under control by Sunday evening. "The administration is fully prepared to tackle any sort of health emergency arising out of the current situation", Raj told reporters.
At a high-level meeting earlier in the day, Kerala Chief Secretary V P Joy directed the Kochi City Police Commissioner to probe the reasons behind the fire at the plant.
"Currently, 20 fire tenders are deployed at the site. Directions have been issued to deploy additional fire tenders from the Cochin Port Trust and other Public Sector Units in the area to bring the situation under control. Besides, water will be pumped from the nearby river using powerful motors," the Collector said.
Fire tenders have been spraying water using a helicopter but did not yield desired result due to the "smouldering fire" that was burning without any flames in the plastic waste mount, the collector said.
‘Toxic air’
Residents took to social media platforms to complain about the dense smog and foul smell in the city as the fire kept blazing for two days.
Ranjit Thampy, a Kochi resident, took to Facebook, claiming that toxic smoke was affecting the health of the people living in the city and its neighbourhood. He said that the visibility was very poor in parts of Kochi on Saturday morning and there was a bad smell too.
"People are forced to breathe toxic air. Today morning it's really bad and pathetic," Thampy said in the post.
A Twitter user made similar complaints as he claimed that the residents were inhaling toxic air even after 36 hours. He shared a video, shot on phone camera about 7kms away from the fire site, he claimed.
Navy pressed into action
Naval Fire Fighting Services were pressed into action on Friday after the Kochi Corporation authorities worried about worsening air quality. In a tweet, a Defence spokesperson said the Navy was committed to extending all possible help to bring the situation under control.
"@indiannavy joins the firefighting efforts to douse the massive #fire at #Brahmapuram WasteTreatmentPlant along with Govt. of #Kerala. With its skilled personnel & specialised eqpt. @IN_HQSNC is committed to extending all possible asst. to bring the situation under control," the tweet read.
The Navy conducted a recce to assess the extent of the fire and additional firefighting teams and resources were activated to augment the efforts of the district administration. A Naval ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter) of INS Garuda was deployed with Large Area Aerial Liquid Dispersion Equipment (LAALDE) to drop water buckets on the affected areas.
"More than 5,000 litres of water have been sprayed in the active fire zones. All efforts are in progress with the local agencies and authorities to control the spread of fire", the Navy said.
The Ernakulam District Collector said the help of the Air Force would be sought to douse the fire-- if the civic administration fails to manage the situation.
(With PTI inputs)
