Ghazipur Landfill Under Fire, Blaze Extinguished After 7 Hours

New Delhi: Delhi’s oldest landfill – Ghazipur in east Delhi, which had partially collapsed recently, caught fire on Saturday evening, though no one was injured. Five fire tenders rushed to spot and tried to douse the flames. After seven hours of fire extinguishing operation, the blaze was extinguished around 1:30 am.

“Five fire tenders were rushed and the blaze was finally brought under control at 1.30 am,” the Delhi Fire Services official said.

On asked about the cause of the fire, a fire service official said, “It has not been ascertained yet. It could be that someone threw a cigarette or a beedi that triggered it.”

The 45-m high landfill was shut down following an order by Lt. Governor Anil Baijal after the incident of collapse that left two people dead and several injured.

“We received a call about the fire incident at about 5:50 pm. Senior officials are also at the site,” a fire service official said, adding, “no one has been injured”.

According to officials, the permissible height for a garbage dump is 20 metres. Every day, 2,500-3000 metric tonnes of garbage is dumped at the Ghazipur site.