Fire at the Rodriguez, Rizal landfill extinguished

The fire that broke out in a sanitary landfill in Rodriguez, Rizal on Sunday was finally extinguished after more than 24 hours.

But the smoke coming from the fire scene is still present which reached Quezon City,  according to Ian Cruz’s report in “24 Oras” on Tuesday.

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Rodriguez said that 90% of the affected landfill has already been covered by soil to mitigate the smoke.

With this, scavengers have already started to come back to the landfill.

“Sa ngayon po wala na kaming mask mula nung umulan kahapon kasi nawala na yung usok. Kaya nga ho umakyat na kame naramdaman namin na walang usok, kaya dito na kame natulog,” said Orlando Gatmin.

(We are no longer wearing face masks since the smoke has already gone after it rained yesterday. We decided to go back and sleep here again.)

Most of the 43 families living nearby who evacuated have also returned to their homes. There are only nine families or 25 individuals still in evacuation centers as of Tuesday morning, Cruz's report added.

The local government unit, on the other hand, already spoke to the private company that owns the landfill, and it was determined that the fire began in the upper part of the landfill.

“Ito po ay outside grass fire na nakaapekto sa ating mga basura sa ating landfill and because of it, dahil nga sa init ng panahon, kaya naapektuhan ang lugar, nag-escalate itong apoy na ito,” said Pastor Nel Luib, public information officer of the Municipality of Rodriguez.

(This is an outside grass fire that affected the garbage in the landfill and because of it, the hot weather, it escalated into a fire.)

The cause of the fire are the humid weather and the release of methane gas from the pile of garbage that also caused the fire to spread easily and reach the lower portion of the landfill.

“Meron pa rin tayong risk na magkaroon ng rekindling ng flames, kaya ‘yun ang iniiwasan natin. Kaya maya't-maya din ay nagtatabon tayo ng lupa sa umuusok na area at nagbubuga pa rin tayo ng tubig,” said BFP Rodriguez chief Inspector Rene Boy Bacay.

(We still have the risk that the fire will rekindle, so that's what we're trying to avoid. So sooner or later we're covering the smoldering area with soil and we're still spraying water.)

The Quezon City government advised its residents on Monday to wear face masks due to the “very unhealthy” air quality logged in the city caused by the smoke from the landfill.

While the air quality index has already improved in most parts of Quezon City, there are still three areas that have unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups: Payatas, San Isidro, and Cubao. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BAP, GMA Integrated News