In Frames | When Kochi gasped

Plastic refuse at the coastal city’s solid-waste treatment plant catches fire, choking its people with smoke and soot

On the evening of March 2, heaps of plastic refuse stacked as high as multi-storey buildings at the solid-waste treatment plant at Brahmapuram in Kochi went up in flames. At least since 2019, the plant, run by the City Corporation, has been seeing such episodes of fire, raging for two or three days before being brought under control.

But this time, the fire turned intense and spread across a wider area by the day. As the few fire tenders and firefighters from the neighbourhood proved inadequate to battle the blaze, more men and equipment were rushed in from fire stations across Kerala. Even then, it was a daunting task, which the Corporation authorities underestimated initially.

Soon, the Ernakulam district administration sought the help of the Navy. The Southern Naval Command deployed an advanced light helicopter for aerial spraying of water on the active fire zone, which had by then expanded to nearly 40 acres of plastic mountains. A day later, the Indian Air Force joined the battle.

Even as intense firefighting was under way round-the-clock, toxic gas, carried mostly in the south-westerly direction first and then in the opposite direction as the wind changed course, left people gasping for breath.

Residents of many apartment complexes in the neighbourhood in the information technology hub of Thrikkakara were left in droves complaining of breathlessness and cough.

Once the fire was doused, the firefighters were left with the arduous task of tossing the garbage using excavators and watering it down to contain the smoke. The smoke was controlled about a fortnight after the fire breakout.