Depok to Water Cipayung Landfill Twice Daily to Prevent Recurring Fires
The Cipayung landfill in Depok will be watered twice a day as part of mitigation efforts to prevent fires from recurring. Deputy Mayor Chandra Rahmansyah stated that the city administration, together with the Ministry of Environment, is preparing to water several points at the landfill. “The plan from the head of the Environmental and Health Service is to carry out wetting and watering twice a day for mitigation,” Chandra said at the site on Friday.
Chandra added that the city government will also strengthen supervision at the landfill. The Depok Environmental and Health Service will conduct routine field patrols, supplemented by drone surveillance. “First, we will strengthen supervision. The service has actually been carrying out routine field patrols, but we will add drone patrols. Second, we will strengthen the mitigation team in case of unwanted incidents,” he explained.
The Ministry of Environment, through its Law Enforcement Deputy, Air Directorate, and Waste Management Directorate, is also involved in handling the situation. A thermal drone was deployed in the morning to analyse whether any hotspots remained. “We flew our thermal drone this morning to analyse whether there were still any hotspots. From the analysis, we saw that there are no more surface hotspots,” said Ardyanto Nugroho, Director of Environmental Complaints and Supervision.
He explained that the drone will be flown every three hours to monitor hotspots, especially those beneath the surface. In addition, the ministry has deployed a mobile air quality monitoring station to assess public health risks. “This mobile air quality monitoring station measures several parameters such as PM2.5, PM10, and other substances. Each parameter has a quality standard. If it exceeds the standard, there is a risk to public health, and we will monitor that continuously,” he said.
The fire at the Cipayung landfill occurred on Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Western Indonesian Time. The head of the Depok Environmental Service, Rni Siti, said the fire originated from beneath a pile of waste. The blaze was extinguished by 10.52 p.m. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.