IPNEWS: Residents of Whein Town Community in Paynesville, Montserrado County have threatened to protest if the Monrovia City Corporation refuses to clear stockpile of garbage at the Whein Town garbage disposal site in Paynesville suburb of Monrovia.
The Residents decried the unhygienic and hazardous living conditions they are facing in the area.
IPNEWS crew visiting the area could withstanding the unpleasant smell of the garbage and set ablaze recently to give way to other garbage collected from major parts of Monrovia during the just ended inaugural program of President Joseph Boakai.
According to the residents, a massive fire outbreak at the landfill site in Paynesville is posing a serious threat to their living conditions and there are mounting fears for an outbreak of diseases in the area.
The site is designated for garbage from various cities in Montserrado County.
This week, community dwellers reported a fire outbreak which started at about 9 pm Monday, January 22nd by unknown persons. The cross-section of residents told IPNEWS that the started at the middle of the site prompting fears of escalation at the landfill site.
Many of the residents spoken to further stated that the continued blazing of the burned garbage has unleashed colossal amount of smoke throughout the community, prompting them to evacuate their homes in search of a safer place.
National Fire Service, in a bid to finding a solution, swiftly dispatched two fire service trucks and personnel equipped to combat the fire.
Despite their efforts, the fire continued to escalate due to strong winds. It’s appropriately 48 hours now since the firefighters commenced efforts to combat the fire but to no avail.
John Siaffa, the coordinator for the JNB and JKK volunteers who were on the scene, lamented that upon examination, they established that the cause of the fire was an immense heat and gas generated by the accumulated garbage.
“These are testament to global warming, and the time that we had in-between that we didn’t have water to battle this thing, that’s what increased the fire,” he noted.
Siaffa emphasized that the fire was a natural occurrence, attributing it to the rising temperatures within the garbage during the dry season, causing the gas produced by the stacked garbage to ignite nearly every year.
Siaffa further called for technical support from individuals with water trucks to assist the Liberia National Fire Service in extinguishing the fire.
He also mentioned that their team is working to empower community members to contribute to the firefighting efforts.
The JNB & JKK Inauguration Volunteers head further stated that there’s an urgent need for more logistics to help battle the incident.
“We need Fuel, we need water, even manpower, whatever you have send it and we will appreciate it,” Mr. Siaffa requested.
As it stands, the condition of the largest Sanitary Landfill in Paynesville remains a major challenge for the Liberia National Fire Service as well as posing severe health danger to the community dwellers in the area.
The Whein Town Sanitary Landfill Site is about 25-acre created in 2005 following the closure of the previous solid waste disposal site in Fiamah, Sinkor. The site is being managed by the Monrovia City Corporation.
