COIMBATORE: Fire and rescue personnel were struggling to extinguish a major fire that broke out at the city corporation’s garbage dump yard located at Vellalore on Saturday evening.After noticing the blaze around 3pm at the scientific enclosure site near Mahalingapuram area, corporation officials informed the fire and rescue services department that sent two water tenders to the location. Two water tankers of the corporation reached the spot later. Rapid Action Force personnel were also lending a hand. Sources said that it would take several hours to control the fire spread over 200sqm.The yard was shifted from Kavundampalayam to Vellalore 14 years ago. It had witnessed about 20 fire incidents in the last eight years. But, the corporation has not taken any steps to check fire incidents, despite the demand from social activists, who have been calling for a comprehensive mechanism.“Major fire incidents are reported at the yard every day. Yet, emergency fire response measures have not be taken and there is no system in place when such incidents are reported. Despite promises made to set up CCTV cameras, watchtowers, over-head tanks and bringing in an automated fire emergency mechanism to fight fire, no action has been taken,” activist Daniel Jesudas said.The corporation had dug several borewells in the dump yard to source water to fight fires. But, none of them are functional.Meanwhile, corporation engineers in-charge Ravi Kannan and Saravana Kumar blamed the lack of funds for not implementing modern infrastructure at the dump yard. “A new plant will come up soon,” Saravana Kumar told TOI.The civic body dumps about 1,100 tonnes of waste a day at the 650-acre yard. So far, it has dumped 3 lakh cubic metres of waste in the scientific enclosure area alone. Nearly 19lakh tonne of waste is strewn across the yard.

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