Fire on Mumbai’s 18-Storey Landfill Can Be Seen From Space

Unholy Smoke: Fire at Mumbai’s Deonar landfill is seen from space

Attempts to douse the fire at Deonar have all but failed. (Photo: Twitter/@NASAEarth)

Day 6. The fire at Mumbai’s Deonar dumping ground is still on.

Satellite images taken by NASA indicate the extent of the damage caused by the fire, which some reports suggest, was not accidental.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is in the red, reading 307 which translates to ‘Very Poor’ bringing residents out on the streets to demand the landfill that has been functioning since 1927 be permanently shut down.

Chembur has recorded a 40% spike in pollution levels and has overtaken Delhi which had deployed emergency measures like the Odd-Even formula in the first-half of January.

Sensors on the Terra, Aqua and Suomi NPP satellites began detecting smoke and fire from the landfill on January 27. (Photo: Twitter/@NASAEarth)

Meanwhile, pressure from environmentalists and residents has led the Devendra Fadnavis government to consider shifting the landfill.

False color images acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) shows the location of the fire hotspots more clearly, (Photo: Twitter/@NASAEarth)

The Deonar dumping ground, the largest in Mumbai, is as tall as an 18-storey tower and and extends over 132 hectares.