NMC struggles to contain Bhandewadi fire even after 6 Days
Nagpur: Even after over 144 hours of relentless firefighting efforts, the fire and emergency services department of
Nagpur Municipal Corporation
(NMC) is still battling to fully douse the smouldering Bhandewadi dumping yard.
On Friday, the number of active fire tenders were reduced from eight to five, which continue to work round the clock. "We aim to completely extinguish the fire by Sunday," said NMC's officiating chief fire officer BP Chandankhede.
The blaze, which began as a minor fire around 10am on April 19, escalated into a massive inferno by 1pm the same day, aided by a gust of wind that turned the landfill into a raging fire zone. With no original buffer between the landfill and surrounding residential areas, the NMC's fire, solid waste management, and public health engineering departments collaborated to carve out a new buffer zone near Tulsi Nagar to limit the threat to nearby homes.
Initially, workers at the landfill believed they had extinguished the fire. However, the fire began again a few hours later and quickly spiralled out of control. In response, the fire department began clearing garbage from the edge of the dumping ground along Tulsi Nagar to create and maintain a protective boundary. Officials say this move may help shield the residential zone from similar flare-ups in the future.
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Since the fire's escalation, NMC has deployed multiple fire tenders, water tankers, and significant manpower to contain the blaze. At the peak of operations, up to 12 fire tenders were engaged in continuous rotation, ferrying water from various sources. Over the last six days, at least 400 water trips were made, including from a well where pumps were specially installed. However, fire officials say it is difficult to estimate the total volume of water used, given the varied capacities of the tankers — ranging from 2,000 to 16,000 litres.
The fire department has also shifted strategy — now focusing on identifying specific smoke-emitting pockets in the garbage. Using Poclain machines, they are breaking the mounds of waste and dousing its interiors with water to stop underground smouldering.
Despite these efforts, the scale of the fire and the depth of garbage at the landfill pose serious challenges. The incident has again highlighted critical gaps in fire preparedness and poor waste management practices at Bhandewadi.
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