KILCULLEN, 22 June 2001: by Brian Byrne. An explosion and fire at the Kildare County Dump at Silliott Hill resulted in three units of Kildare Fire Service being brought in this afternoon to fight the blaze. The explosion happened when a dumped car was being moved and petrol left in the tank was ignited.
Several other cars in the vicinity also went on fire, and the fire service was still at the scene up to 5pm this afternoon. Among the firefighting units were two water tenders.
The dump is currently getting close to the end of its working life, but there are proposals for a ‘collection and transfer’ facility on the site and a temporary composting plant to deal with sewerage residues from the county treatment facility at Osberstown.
The site of the fire is the location for a number of recycling facilities at Silliot Hill. The dump has long been a sore point with local residents over how it is managed, and a public information meeting two months ago about the proposed composting facility was slammed by local people as ‘not having any answers’ to pertinent questions.
A spokesman from Kildare County Council this afternoon said a fire report will be made, which will include details of what firefighting facilities are available at the dump, and what precautions are in place to deal with any fire which might involve hazardous residues.
One local resident said this afternoon that he went to the dump when the smoke was floating over his home to make sure that no chemicals were involved in the fire.
©2001brianbyrne/knn