Toxic smoke blankets town

VRYHEID’S municipal dumpsite is on fire again. It apparently started burning on Thursday evening last week, and by Friday morning, a pall of toxic smoke lay over parts of Vryheid.

It burned or smouldered the entire weekend, the choking smoke infiltrating residences in the early hours of Saturday morning, and depending on the prevailing wind, Vryheid, Bhekuzulu and the new Bhekuzulu Extension 16B (Sasko Area) were affected.

At this time of year, temperature inversion has in the past smothered these areas with a poisonous fog in the mornings when the dumpsite has been on fire. By Monday morning this week, there was no evidence that the municipality had made any effort to put the fire out.

This is not the first, nor even the second time that the dump has caught fire. Two winters ago it burned for nearly six months. In the past it has even been expected that in winter the dumpsite would catch fire, either as a result of a nearby grass fire, or because someone working at the dumpsite has started a fire to get warm, and then left it unattended.

There is adequate fuel there to keep a fire smouldering for months. No rubbish has been buried for years. It is simply flattened after the recyclable materials have been removed by scavengers, who rely on this material for their livelihood. There are layers of metres-thick rubbish simply waiting for a fire.

Now it’s got it.