Negotin landfill fire burns second day, PM10 hits 202
The fire at the town landfill broke out on October 19 at about 5:30 p.m. Morning readings show PM10 at 202 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than after the October 10 fire.
The town landfill in Negotin has been burning since Monday, October 19, and firefighters are still fighting the blaze on Tuesday. Smoke has covered much of the town, and morning readings at the Environmental Protection Agency station show PM10 particles at 202 micrograms per cubic meter. That is higher than after the previous fire at the same dump, which broke out on October 10.
How did the Negotin landfill fire start?
The fire broke out on Monday at about 5:30 p.m. on the edge of the town’s unsanitary landfill. Wind spread it quickly to the central part of the dump, and it covered an area of more than one hectare. According to the portal NG Portal, flames reached a height of up to 20 meters.
The Negotin Fire and Rescue Unit is fighting the fire, along with industrial fire crews from the Djerdap 2 hydropower plant and from Eliksir in Prahovo. Overnight they used large amounts of water to cut off the fire zone and stop it from spreading further. Hot spots remain, however, because the flammable material and the structure of the waste keep embers alive inside the landfill, and they continue to release large amounts of smoke.
Today crews are using water, while machinery from Eliksir Kraft and the public utility Badnjevo is covering the fire zone with soil.
Representatives of the Emergency Management Headquarters, led by commander Vladimir Velickovic, arrived at the scene. All available personnel and equipment have been ordered to the site so the fire can be contained and brought under control as soon as possible.
What do the air quality readings show?
According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s monitoring station, the morning values, in micrograms per cubic meter, are:
- PM10: 202
- PM2.5: 113
- sulfur dioxide (SO2): 10.5
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2): 48.2
NG Portal reports that the measured values are higher than after the October 10 fire. That fire started in another part of the dump, where bulky waste is deposited, and the site smoldered for days. The data is available on the Agency’s website.
What are residents advised to do?
Smoke has reduced visibility in parts of town. The authorities are urging residents to keep their windows closed and to spend as little time outdoors as possible until the situation stabilizes.
The cause of the fire has not been officially determined, and more details are expected once the fire is fully out. The available sources mention no injuries.
This is not the first fire at the dump
Major fires at the town landfill were also recorded in late June this year, in February 2024 and in 2019. The dump has operated for more than half a century, and officially it is classified as an unsanitary dump because it does not meet the standards of a sanitary landfill and has no operating permit.
According to NG Portal, the landfill has no video surveillance, a guard is present only during the first shift, and residents have unrestricted access. The same portal notes that human error was cited as one possible cause of earlier fires, which were mostly smaller. The cause of the current fire remains undetermined, so that assumption has not been confirmed either.
