Smoke nuisance from Riverton City dump resolved

By Kimone Witter    

 

Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Audley Gordon, says operations at the Riverton City disposal site in St. Andrew have returned to near normal following last week's fire and subsequent smoke nuisance that affected air quality.

 

Teams from the NSWMA have been using cover material to smother the remnants of the fire.

 

Mr. Gordon told Radio Jamaica News on Monday morning that he was happy the situation has been resolved. 

 

"If one should do a drone fly over off the disposal site, you probably will see some little semblance of smoke here and there, a little bit, hardly noticeable," he said, adding that teams are still working at the site "but largely, we are back to normal". 

 

The fire started at the edge of the disposal site on Tuesday afternoon.

 

An investigation has not yet determined how it started. 

 

Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Stewart Beckford, said it is suspected that sparks from a bushfire that was near to the Riverton City disposal site started the blaze last week. 

 

"We are still conducting our investigation.... It hasn't been confirmed yet, so we are hoping that not too long from now we can confirm that," he said. 

 

Meanwhile, all bushfires in the hills of St. Andrew, which were threatening homes and other infrastructure, have reportedly been extinguished.

 

Firefighters, assisted by members of the Jamaica Defence Force, were kept busy from Saturday night battling major bushfires at Westphalia in Mavis Bank, Bowden Hill, Stony Hill and Cavaliers in St. Andrew.

 

Commissioner Beckford said rainfall on Sunday assisted in smothering the flames. 

 

"We have not had any reports of any incidents occurring in that region since daybreak and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather system will continue in terms of additional rain because that will assist and assist greatly. So yes, we are comfortable with what we are seeing. We did some surveillance this morning and we have not seen anything, and we have not had any reports from residents in those areas of any fire," he reported.