Coimbatore: Firefighters are struggling to put out a massive blaze that spread at Vellalore dumpyard on Saturday. The locality is enveloped in thick smoke as fire raged throughout Sunday.A city corporation official in charge of the operation said the fire, which was reported around 7pm on Saturday, had spread to over 10 acres of the dumpyard, burning down the accumulated solid waste. “Five water tenders, 10 water tankers and three earthmovers are used to bring it under control. Earthmovers are used to remove solid wastes to check the spread of fire to more areas. We are constantly refilling the water tankers. It is difficult to work amid the thick smoke,” the official told TOI.Meanwhile, local residents blamed the city corporation for intentionally starting the fire. “Corporation officials had set fire to the accumulated waste to reduce its quantity,” city-based activist and a resident of Vellalore J Daniel Jesudass said. “The corporation had promised to install CCTV cameras to monitor the yard several years ago. But till date, not a single camera has been installed. Nobody knows what is taking place inside the yard.”Residents of Podanur, Srinivasa Nagar and Sriram Nagar are struggling to breath due to smoke from the dumpyard, Jesudass said. “The 10 borewells inside the yard are not working and as a result, the corporation’s water tankers have to travel five kilometres to refill,” he added.

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