Riverton Meadows resident praises firefighters' response to tyre blaze
Published:Sunday | May 6, 2018 | 12:00 AMJason Cross/Gleaner Writer
One resident of Riverton Meadows in St Andrew is pleased with what she said was a robust response by firefighters, who struggled since Saturday night up to yesterday afternoon to put out a massive blaze in the community.
Units from various fire stations responded to the blaze.
Deon Williamson told The Gleaner yesterday that a huge pile of tyres caught fire in a section of the community, which set off very thick black smoke.
"I saw tyres burning, but I don't know what caused it. It was a huge fire. It was like a volcano, the way mi see the fire boil up. The firefighters with different teams in and out did a good job. One thing I am glad for is that no house at all was burned. Nobody get hurt, but di whole a di pig dem dead out," she said.
A pig farmer in the community told journalists that he lost roughly 150 pigs, 25 of which were pregnant.
DISPUTE OVER FIRE'S ORIGIN
In the meantime, the National Solid Waste management Authority (NSWMA) issued a statement yesterday insisting that the fire did not start on the Riverton landfill, rejecting a claim by the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), which suggested that the fire originated there.
The NSWMA raised concern in its statement to the media that JET implied the Authority was to be held responsible.
The statement described JET's claim as "most unfortunate even after being provided with the correct information".
NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon told The Gleaner that the fire originated nowhere near the landfill.
"JET is very disingenuous. There is no evidence whatsoever that it had anything to do with the disposal site, because the fire was in Riverton community. JET is trying to tie it to the disposal site."