The Fire Services Department (FSD) announced that a fire broke out at the Hteinbin garbage dump in Hlinethaya Township, Yangon, at 10:45 am on 22 June.
The fire brigade classified the fire as Level 2, and it was extinguished at noon. According to the Fire Department’s report, a fire that started when chemicals were being disposed of in the landfill destroyed two cranes and one 16-wheeler truck, and two firemen suffered suffocation due to chemical fumes.
There was also a fire at the dump in 2008, and it had to wait for the fire to be put out for a week. The news reports then said that four out of 16 patients with smoke inhalation in Ward 20 of Hlinethaya Township died of asphyxiation.
Vehicles from the Yangon City Development Committee transport around 1,350 tonnes of waste in Yangon to the Hteinbin dump, about 1,100 tonnes to the Dawei Chaung dump, approximately 25 tonnes to the Dala disposal site, and around eight tonnes to the Seikkyi/Khanaungto landfill on a daily basis. — TWA/CT
