Firefighting operations ongoing at the Burj Hammoud landfill on Sept. 13, 2024. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/OLJ)
The fire at the massive Burj Hammoud landfill, located at Beirut's northern exit, was brought under control overnight, a spokesperson for Lebanese Civil Defense confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour, though cooling operations are ongoing. The blaze had ignited shortly before 7 p.m. in the towering pile of waste.
“There are no more flames, but smoke can still be seen rising,” Walid Hachache told the publication, explaining that cooling efforts, which began around 1 a.m. after firefighters managed to control the various hotspots, are still underway. These operations are complicated by the nature of the fire, which involves different types of materials, including plastic, and the settling layers of waste, which create oxygen pockets that could reignite the flames.
“This is one of the most difficult types of fires to extinguish,” Lebanese Civil Defense Director Raymond Khattar told local channel LBCI on Friday morning. He noted that 20 Civil Defense vehicles and three Beirut fire trucks were deployed to tackle the blaze, along with cranes from the company managing the landfill. Trucks carrying dirt and sand were also used to smother the fire. Khattar criticized the management of the landfill, describing it as "one mountain of trash" that has since expanded and now includes hazardous waste.
However, according to a Civil Defense officer, the "fire is not fully extinguished yet."
"We have been containing it, but the cause remains unclear. It could have been intentionally set or sparked by high temperatures. Fires like these, especially on waste mounds, take longer to control. Thankfully, there have been no casualties," they added
Firefighting operations ongoing at the Burj Hammoud landfill on Sept. 13, 2024. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/OLJ)
Reactions
On Thursday evening, caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin visited the site to monitor the firefighting efforts. He announced that he was deploying "all possible efforts to identify the causes of the disaster."
Ziad Ahmad, a Syrian resident of Bourj Hammoud, described the panic when the fire broke out. "We were at a café when it started around 8 p.m. Some people began to get scared, even though we couldn’t see the flames clearly. The smell was terrible. After the port explosion, any fire makes people fear something similar could happen again."
Pierre Khoueiri, who owns a small café in Dawra, shared a similar experience. "We were drinking whiskey, but ash from the fire kept falling into our drinks. Some people left, but most of us are numb to this now. No one was even wearing masks."
A car shop owner near the site of the fire in Karantina said he rushed back from Antelias to check on his shop when the fire broke out. "The smell was intense, and the fire looked massive. Today, I’ve been cleaning up all the dust left behind."
The fire has triggered reactions within the political class, notably among lawmakers from Beirut and Metn, the two regions between which the landfill is situated.
Beirut MP Ghassan Hasbani warned in a message on X about the potential for the fire to spread to nearby fuel and gas reservoirs and called for "instructions" to be issued to residents in case of risks.
Samy Gemayel, head of the Kataeb party and Metn MP, denounced a "new environmental crime in Metn," recalling his opposition to the expansion of the landfill. "We are now facing two mountains of toxins and harmful gases that are killing the residents of Beirut and Metn," he wrote on X. "Close this landfill."
The Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) office in Metn lamented that "once again, the residents of Metn are paying the price for the state's negligence." They emphasized the need for "sustainable solutions to eliminate the risks" posed by the landfill, "without clientelism or dubious contracts."
Firefighting operations ongoing at the Burj Hammoud landfill on Sept. 13, 2024. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin/OLJ)
A serious threat
The environmental protection NGO Greenpeace, through Farah al-Hattab, a lawyer and campaign manager for Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa, issued a statement following the disaster: "This catastrophic incident is a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the waste crisis plaguing Lebanon, which can no longer rely on temporary solutions. The country must implement effective, urgent, and sustainable short- and long-term solutions, focusing on reduction, reuse, recycling, and the safe disposal of waste. If the situation persists, Lebanon will face recurring health and environmental crises," she said.
"Landfills like the one in Burj Hammoud are filled with massive amounts of untreated waste, including organic and plastic materials. This waste turns into a smoldering mass that is difficult to extinguish and releases toxic pollutants such as methane, fine particles, dioxins and furans, which pose a serious threat to public health by increasing the risk of respiratory and cancer-related diseases," she added.