Early-morning blaze at Riverton landfill quickly doused, says NSWMA

There was a fire at the Riverton City Landfill in St Andrew this morning.

However, the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) says the early-morning blaze was quickly extinguished after the recently implemented emergency response protocol was activated.

The emergency protocol was implemented after the last major fire at the landfill in March 2015, which lasted 12 days and cost the government $235 million.

Executive Director of the NSWMA, Audley Gordon says there was no damage as a result of this morning’s fire.

There were reports that the fire caused a smoke nuisance to residents in several nearby communities, but this quickly dissipated.

Meanwhile, the fire that has been burning at the Buff Bay landfill in Portland since Wednesday has now been contained.

That’s according to Regional Operations Manager at Northeastern Parks and Markets Tracy Fakhourie.

It’s reported that the blaze started Wednesday afternoon and quickly spread across the pile of garbage at the sole dumping site in the parish.

However, speaking to The Gleaner/Power106 News Centre last evening, Fakhourie noted that there was still intense heat from areas that are still smouldering, but said  fire fighters are close to extinguishing the blaze.