A fire which broke out at a landfill site at Howick in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands has been brought under control in four hours by 80 fire fighters.
uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas says an area the size of about two soccer fields was affected by the fire.
“Apart from the municipal water tanker, forestry company Sappi and fire brigades from neighboring municipalities helped to bring the fire under control. The municipality was served with a non-compliance notice about the Curry’s Post landfill site some time ago,” said Pappas.
The fire broke out at 6:30am and the cause is being investigated. It is believed that the source of the fire has something to do with the waste pickers because it occurred where they work.
It couldn’t have been natural however there was no sunlight at that particular time. It is known sometimes because of the glass and plastic that are around landfill sites sporadic fires can start but it was too early in the morning for that.
Fire and emergency services were quick to respond. The first people that were on the scene were Sappi Forestry. They have monitoring systems throughout the region to protect their forests. Some of the forests border Howick landfill site and they were very quick to respond.
