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Exploding 'kwitis' causes fire at Imus dumpsite

Exploding 'kwitis' causes fire at Imus dumpsite

By Anthony Giron IMUS CITY, Cavite – Exploding pyrotechnics, more locally known as “kwitis”, were to blame for a fire at a garbage dumpsite that raged on for five days in Pasong Buaya I.

Workers work on finishing skyrocket or kwitis at Lino's Fireworks Sshop at Brgy. Igulot in Bocaue, Bulacan on December 27, 2016 as orders piled up days before celebrating the New Year’s Day. (Camille Ante) | mb.com.ph

(CAMILLE ANTE / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) According to the City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) and Engineering offices, the fire started when boxes of fireworks, which were earlier dumped in the area, suddenly came alive. Officials surmised that the fireworks, which had been left under the scorching heat of the sun, might have exploded it was pressed down when it was ran over by a backhoe. Thousands of residents living in parts of Pasong Buaya and the neighboring Barangay Anabu complained of thick smoke coming from the former garbage dump, which was actually ordered closed by the local government last December 2018. Last Tuesday, the situation got worse that classes at a school in Barangay Anabu I-F were suspended. As of press time Saturday, foul-smelling smoke continued to billow from the area. The fire caused thick smoke that reportedly went within the one-kilometer radius affecting even the industrial area on Aguinaldo Highway in Barangay Anabu II-A. The two hectare-dumpsite, the only in this historical capital city, was ordered closed by the city government in late December because it could no longer accommodate the trash from the city’s 97 barangays. It had been operating for many years. Mayor Emmanuel Leonardo Maliksi and officers from the City Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), other concerned departments and barangay (village) offices went to the site to inspect the area. The authorities said that it took days to contain the garbage heap fire due to the methane deposit underneath. The dumpsite is now being guarded round-the-clock by barangay (village) officers and men to ensure that no fire will take place again in the area.

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