KOCHI: It is 1.45pm on Monday. Smoke is still rising from the garbage piles at Brahmapuram waste treatment plant. The firefighters, who have been trying hard to control the smoke since 7 in the morning are exhausted due to tiredness and hunger. They have their food packets with them, but there is no place to sit and eat.Firefighter Subeesh sits down among the plastic waste and opens the food packet and starts to eat. Soon, others join him with their food packets and water bottle. Firefighter Shiju, who had injured his right leg while dousing the fire, limps towards his colleagues.“I will have to stand and eat as there is no place around to sit,” he says. The firefighters, who are having a tough time keeping the fire in check have no complaints about sitting and having food in the midst of garbage. “There is no time to waste. We will have a quick lunch and get back to work to ensure that the smoke is controlled,” said a fireman.The short-staffed fire force has a tough time keeping the fire in check.But even as they work hard to keep the city safe, working in the midst of garbage for the past few days. It has made them vulnerable to all kinds of diseases. “We are being continuously exposed to toxic air, due to which many have started complaining of throat pain, cough and headache,” said a fireman. They have been asked to take tablet for leptospirosis as they have to walk on the waste heap.Firefighters say that there are days when they are forced to work round-the-clock without any rest. “We reached here after attending two similar fires in our station limits,” says Subeesh, a fireman from Mavelikkara Some even have their meals sitting at the rear of fire tenders.“I was injured while trying to douse smoke at the garbage heap. A piece of broken glass in the waste pile cut my leg though I was wearing protective gumboots. Though the doctor posted at the plant gave first aid, I had to seek medication from Kakkanad primary health centre. As this kind of injuries is part of our duty, I returned to work after some time,” says Shiju, who comes from Muvattupuzha fire station. He was also involved in firefighting when a six-storey building caught fire near Ernakulam Junction railway station Many had food in their damp clothes and without any shade over their head. Some sat under the shade of fire engines , tables placed in the midst of waste, stairs in the building, behind sacks and other places wherever possible.A firefighter takes rest after a hectic day at the plant.After some time, they return to work and start pumping water drawn from the adjacent Kadambrayar River, while plumes of smoke emanate from the waste heaps.Meanwhile, the fire officials say they will ensure that a fireman gets only one day’s duty at the plant.

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