Local communities threaten action after waste plant fire (update 2)

Communities in the area of Pentakomo waste treatment plant (Oeda) are prepared to take dynamic measure and block the entrance after another fire on Tuesday sent further toxic fumes into the atmosphere.

The fire broke out at around 6am on Tuesday at the waste plant, spreading beyond it but was quickly put out by fire fighters. However, the fire services said the blaze outside the facility only had been extinguished, while rubbish continued to burn.

This is the second fire to have occurred in the Oeda Pentakomo in just over a month following an earlier incident on June 16.

Community leader of nearby Kalavasos Lefteris Foka said the fire had released a large pillar of smoke and that the residents had taken shelter out of their own initiative.

He said the situation is “tragic” and that the state has done nothing to protect residents of the communities in the area of the facility.

“The state fails to protect us and we are forced to take dynamic measures,” Foka told Alpha News.

He said that authorities failed to even warn them to take protective measures due to the smoke, which he claimed was toxic.

“We saw the smoke ourselves and took measures. We will stay home and limit movement,” he said.

The piles of rubbish, he said, could burn for hours, if not days.

He said the communities of the area are set to hold a meeting at which they may decide to block the entrance of the waste treatment facility.

Earlier, firefighting forces were dealing with two blazes outside Limassol, one at the Oeda Pentakomo and another near the villages of Mathikoloni and Apsiou.

Fire services spokesman Andreas Kettis said the fire had burned five hectares of brush outside the facility, and had been attended by two helicopters and five trucks.

The fire which broke out within the fenced area of the Oeda installation is still smouldering and is expected to take days to burn out.

Meanwhile, the fire in Mathikoloni and Apsiou burnt three hectares of carob trees, olive trees, and brush.

This is the second waste treatment plant to catch fire in a week following one at a plastics and paper recycling facility in Geri, Nicosia that burned for almost four days.

The fire released a lot of hazardous dioxins into the air, and authorities had cooperated to almost immediately to warn citizens to stay inside and mask up.

However, measurements of air quality later showed that the dioxins had dispersed, and they were not affecting the residences.