Delhi firefighters battled a fire that broke out three days ago at a huge landfill in the Indian capital on Thursday, amid a severe heat wave in the north of the country.
A firefighting officer in the capital told AFP that four brigades, or about 30 firefighters, were still, on Thursday morning, extinguishing areas of the landfill that were difficult to reach, on the third day of the fire. The fire may be under control on Friday. No injuries were reported and authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.
A mega city with a population of over 20 million people does not have a modern infrastructure to handle the 12,000 tons of waste it produces every day.
65m tall garbage heap
Three more fires broke out in less than a month at the capital’s largest landfill, a giant 65-meter-high mountain of waste.
Experts attribute these fires to the intense heat currently sweeping the city. “Dry and hot weather produces excess methane in landfills which causes such fires,” said Pradeep Kandelwal, former head of waste management department in Delhi.
Climate change
The city has been experiencing temperatures above seasonal standards since March. Delhi recorded a high of 40.1 degrees in March, the highest temperature recorded in the capital in that month since 1946. Heat waves have killed more than 6,500 people in India since 2010. Scientists say that because of climate change, they are more frequent, but Also worse.
Meteorologists expect temperatures in Delhi to rise to 46 degrees on Thursday. Authorities issued a warning and advised vulnerable people not to go out.
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