Fire At Retirement Disposal Site

WPM Waste Management Limited (WPM WML) is advising that there is a fire at the Retirement Disposal Site in St. James.

WPM Waste Management was alerted to a fire at the facility on March 30, 2021 around 2:00 a.m. The Jamaica Fire Brigade was subsequently notified, and units were dispatched to the site. Currently, there is smoke emanating from the area and heavy-duty equipment is on site working assiduously to suppress it.

Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), Mr. Audley Gordon, says preliminary reports indicate the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion and he wants to thank the firefighters and members of the WPM landfill team for their swift and decisive action that led to the quick containment of this fire.

“We acknowledge the vulnerability for spontaneous combustion at our disposal facilities and have put the necessary measures in place to ensure that cover material is stockpiled at all our sites to enable us to contain and subsequently extinguish these fires rapidly,” Mr. Gordon said.

In accordance with the environmental permit granted to the NSWMA by the National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA), the incident has been reported to the Agency and a timeline was provided for smothering the smoke.