End nears for fire at Tagarades
The fire at the Tagarades landfill in eastern Thessaloniki will probably be extinguished by Sunday, local authorities said yesterday as scientists took samples from animals and plants in the area to see if they had been affected by toxic fumes from the dump. Experts have warned that the blaze, which has been burning for a week, has been emitting harmful dioxins at dangerous levels into the city’s atmosphere. They sent for analysis samples that they gathered within a 5-kilometer radius of the landfill. Authorities said the fire is a third of the size it reached a few days ago but is still proving difficult to extinguish. Only rubbish from hospitals is being dumped at the parts of the landfill that are accessible. The local authority is due to meet tomorrow to decide when the dump will be fully open. Meanwhile, Thessaloniki MP and mayoral candidate Chryssa Arapoglou filed a lawsuit yesterday against «all those responsible» for the fire. She said there had been no safety plan for the site and that there has been a delay in forming a crisis management team.
