With mercury levels rising, the fire and rescue services department gears up to fight roadside fires. The fire service department said they receive close to 200 complaints from the public regarding roadside fires every year during summer which are caused by garbage dumps and dried up bushes.
On Friday, a fire was reported on Patel road in Ram Nagar where dried up bushes and garbage dumped on the roadside caught fire. This week, this was the second such incident as a fire broke out in an empty site at Peelamedu as well on Thursday.
"Whenever garbage or debris is dumped on the roadside, there is always a risk of it catching fire. In Ambal Nagar near Cheran Maa Nagar, there was a fire last week because of dumped garbage. We have even raised this issue on the mayor's grievances page. They assure us that action would be taken but no attempt has been made so far to resolve this issues," said N A Ravi Sankar, a retired professor and a civic activist.
Another resident of Peelamedu area said that there were several instances of such fires in her area. "Due to unavailability of garbage bins, people begin dumping garbage in empty sites which easily catch fire due to cigarette butts," said Sandhya, a resident.
Fire and rescue officers said that this problem was not new to the city. "Every year, during summers, there are at least 200-250 such calls from residents regarding road side fires. Our men reach the spot and put out the fire immediately. So far, casualties have never been reported and nobody is injured," said S R Chandran, district fire officer.
Officials at the control room said, that between January and March at least two such calls were received on a daily basis. The department said that while they got calls from across the city, major calls were from added areas.
Corporation officials confirmed this and said they try their best to ensure that people do not dump garbage on roads and maintain the reserve and empty plots. "In many areas, NRIs and other owners from other states purchase land which remain unattended. Slowly, it turns into a dump yard and bushes dry up in summer. Such places are prone to catching fire. Last week, I issued notices to two such owners in Vadavalli and Veerakeralam," said a corporation official.
Sanitary inspectors said that they warn the public and also clean up several plots on request.
"Several residential welfare associations request us to clean such plots," said a sanitary inspector.