Firefighters and landfill personnel continue to battle a stubborn blaze at the Deglos Landfill, which has been burning since the early hours of Thursday morning. Officials say the fire, which began spontaneously, is now under partial control, though smoke and hot spots remain across parts of the site.
General Manager of the Deglos Landfill, Mrs. Joanna Raynold Arthurton, confirmed that the situation has improved as of Monday, with both the smoke and visible flames showing signs of decline.
“The fire has gotten to some degree of control as the smoke and blaze continue to get less intense,” Arthurton said, adding that work is ongoing to fully extinguish the fire and prevent a recurrence.
The fire, which started sometime between late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, was not the result of deliberate burning, Arthurton clarified.
Instead, it was a spontaneous landfill fire, a phenomenon she described as common to waste disposal sites around the world.
“This is a fire that has just happened on its own, and that is normal for landfills and dump sites because you have all sorts of commingled waste and anything can catch fire,” she explained. “It can come from the gases emitted from the waste itself, or sometimes it’s just a piece of glass in this kind of heat, the sun interacts with it, it’s next to a piece of cardboard, and it ignites.”
Arthurton said such fires are difficult to predict and even harder to extinguish because of the constant buildup of gases and deep-seated materials beneath the landfill surface. She noted that while Saint Lucia has been relatively fortunate not to experience frequent landfill fires, they are considered occupational risks in waste management operations.
The containment effort has been hindered by limited access to water, as repairs to a major raw water line have restricted the supply available for firefighting.
“The problem is access to water,” Arthurton said. “We’ve been accessing water from a hydrant, but that setup limits how much and how quickly we can fight the fire.”
Firefighting operations ran late into Thursday night but were forced to pause due to resource limitations, a setback that allowed the fire to spread uphill before crews could resume work the following day.
Arthurton stressed that continuous efforts by landfill staff and the Saint Lucia Fire Service have been vital in containing the situation, praising their commitment under harsh and dangerous conditions.
“It is worth highlighting the additional hours and efforts of the landfill staff, who continue to work alongside the Fire Service to extinguish the fire,” said a spokesperson at Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority. “They’ve been putting in long hours under difficult conditions, and their teamwork has been critical in getting the situation to where it is now.”
While the fire is not yet fully extinguished, authorities say it remains contained within the landfill’s perimeter and is being closely monitored.
The Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority has urged the public to avoid the Deglos area and to report any spread of smoke or flames beyond the landfill site. Further updates will be issued as the containment and cooling operations continue.
