In Palmi, Calabria, a waste collection plant has been burning for days

An area of ​​5 thousand square meters is affected, the Municipality invites citizens to keep their windows closed and wear ffp2 masks.

• A fire broke out on Saturday 13 July in the Poly2Oil waste collection plant in Palmi, Calabria.
• The burning plastic caused thick black smoke, which made firefighters' interventions more difficult.
• Now the fire is almost under control, assessments of any soil contamination in the area affected by the flames will begin tomorrow.

A large fire has been affecting the area near the former Radi a waste storage site for five days now Palms, in the province of Reggio Calabria.The flames, burning plastic material, generated a huge cloud of black smoke, clearly visible even from a great distance, which reached the city center.The fire broke out on Saturday 13 July and involved an area of ​​5 thousand square metres.The site of Poly2Oil, a waste separation plant, was mainly affected by burning plastic.The thick smoke made it difficult for a Canadian to intervene, but the extinguishing operations continued with the help of the firefighters and civil protection.The Calabria environmental agency is monitoring the air quality in the areas involved.

Masks and windows closed in the municipality of Palmi and beyond 

The authorities have invited citizens to limit their movements, close doors and windows and avoid approaching the plant.Still, several days after the start of the fire, the use of ffp2 masks is recommended in Palmi. The causes of the fire are being investigated and surveys will also be carried out on the ground to ensure that the fumes have not caused the deposit of toxic substances.The burning of waste is also worrying neighboring municipalities, which have also begun to warn their citizens to limit travel, close doors and windows and wear ffp2 masks.This is an event that is receiving little media coverage (the authorities of the Calabria region themselves do not appear to have issued press releases or declarations) but which instead requires the right attention considering the seriousness of the event.

The Municipality of Palmi, in its latest update dated 16 July, stated that the operations to put out the fire were continuing and that only a few outbreaks were still resistant.“The fumes released in recent days, less and less fuelled, are starting to thin out, even if in Palmi and throughout the plain the cloud continues to create inconveniences”.Also yesterday, a further control unit was installed, the fifth, which analyzes the air quality and no significant exceedances of the parameters were reported.

Tomorrow, 18 July, a technical table will be held at the Prefecture aimed at taking stock of the situation and sharing the actions to be taken.Once the fire is extinguished, the entire area affected by the fallout of the fumes will be checked for the presence of toxic substances on the ground:objective of subsequent checks Arpacal, the regional agency for the protection of the environment of Calabria,  will be evaluating the topsoil, i.e. the 10 centimeters of depth of the soil on which the fumes fall.And it is here, on the soil, that, on the basis of chemical analyses, the assessments will have to be specified to ensure the restoration of the environmental damage yet to be quantified, caused by the fire which has not yet been completely put out, and to prevent practices such as growing vegetables on soils which would be contaminated by the fallout of pollutants present in the air