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BOTKYRKA. The mountain of construction waste has been burning since the end of November.
And it cannot be extinguished.
– We feel bad about the smoke and some of the horses have started coughing, says René Flück, 66, who runs a riding facility next to the Botkyrka landfill.
The municipality is now investigating whether residents must be evacuated due to the heavy smoke.
It is not a smell of stables and manure that greets you when you enter René Flück’s horse farm. Instead, there is burning, pungent smoke in the air. A few minutes from the forest a lot of garbage is burning.
– Today is still a good day. But when the pressure is low, the smoke here is like a carpet. A few days ago, the smoke was so thick that you couldn’t look across the water, says René and looks out over Kaggfjärden, the beginning of the Baltic Sea.
Photo: JERKER IVARSSON
René Flück, 66, who runs an equestrian facility next to the landfill in Botkyrka.
From the farm, behind one of the horse paddocks, you can see the smoke rising like a gray tornado into the sky. Although he got used to the smell of smoke after a few weeks, he, his dog, and all 70 horses feel bad about it.
– We feel bad about it, it’s hard to breathe. You feel like it’s not good smoke, it feels stinging. I notice that the horses are not well and some have started coughing.
In local media and Facebook groups, more residents testify to the unrest from the smoke from the fire felt several miles away.
Photo: JERKER IVARSSON
Some of the horses in the facility have started coughing from the smoke from the tip.
“Mixed compost of construction waste”
The fire broke out in late November. Later, the rescue service managed to gain control of it and left the landowner to extinction. But at the end of December, the flames suddenly erupted again and since then it has not been possible to put them out.
The garbage heap is about a hundred times a hundred meters long and burns in various places.
– This is a mixed compote of construction waste with dirt, gravel, organic material, a lot of rubber and plastic tarps and reinforcing bars and elements, says Roger Magnusson, operations manager of the Södertörn fire service.
Photo: JERKER IVARSSON
The garbage heap continues to burn even though the fire was extinguished once.
Several authorities have been involved in finding a way to fight the fire, including Botkyrka Municipality, the County Administrative Board, FOI and the Swedish Geotechnical Institute. The alternatives of the rescue service, extinguishing the fires with water or sand, are excluded.
– If we moisten the fire with water, we run the risk of the poisoned water flowing into water courses worthy of protection. If we lie down on sand, the risk of landslides increases, and the worst case scenario is that the road above will loosen and go down the slope, says Roger Magnusson.
Letting the trash burn quickly in a large fire would cause too much smoke to form in the area.
– We are tied up.
Emergency services – may have self-ignited
It is unclear how the fires started. According to Roger Magnusson, the trash inside the pile may have spontaneously caught fire, which is not entirely uncommon when the trash is tightly packed.
– It is not unusual for heat to develop in a pile of this type. Inside the pile we don’t know what is burning but there is fire in various parts of the pile.
Or someone has turned on the nozzle, something some locals suspect.
Pernilla Vera Jr, director of safety and protection for Botkyrka municipality, says the municipality has worked intensively with the fire since it broke out. At the moment, air measurements are being carried out in the area to assess the health risks of those who live in the area around the tip.
– We want to see what risks exist and if we need to plan the transfer of people or animals, he says.
Photo: JERKER IVARSSON
Landfill fire in Kagghamra, Botkyrka Municipality
The fire can last for months
The Kagghamra landfill has long been a headache for Botkyrka. In 2007, the landfill began to pile up, to the surprise of many residents. Several homeowners associations and the environmental administration fought against the waste facility, and in 2016 the Land and Environment Court ruled that the pile should be removed. Despite that, it remains and now a seemingly unquenchable fire has broken out.
The company responsible for waste management in Kagghamra, NM Trading AB, filed for bankruptcy. The owners are under investigation for a serious environmental crime at this and other waste facilities across the country. According to the suspects, they dumped unsorted garbage and carried it between the various facilities. The owners deny the allegations.
– There is a long history surrounding this advice. But there is pre-trial secrecy, so I can’t comment on the case, says Pernilla Vera Jr.
René Flück and the others in the area have been living with the smoke for weeks. In addition to coughing and discomfort, René has suffered financially as four clients have transferred their horses for health reasons. The rescue service has told him that the fire can last for months.
What do you think of those who live here and end up in this situation?
– I think it’s a curse not to have fixed this yet, it has been burning here for two months.
What is your biggest concern?
– It’s the horses. If there is thick smoke here, we have to move them, it is not so easy to move 70 horses. And we may not even make it. I do not know what to do.
According to a preliminary analysis of air quality, there is no serious danger to life and health in the area. But the rescue service advises against unnecessary visits to the area and residents who feel uncomfortable should close windows and vents and stay indoors. In the worst case, leave the area for a while.
When Aftonbladet is later on the lead, a rescuer wearing a gas mask urges us to leave the area.
– This smoke is dangerous.
Aftonbladet has contacted the attorney for one of the NM Trading AB owners who does not want to comment on the article.
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