At 5pm on Sunday 31st August, the fire service was called to a fire at Trigonhill, landfill site, near Wareham. The incident commander quickly requested the attendance of 6 pumps, 2 water carriers, 2 LandRover’s and the Unimog appliance. Due to the water supplies in the area, the High volume pump (HVP) was requested in order to pump the on-site water supplies to the fireground. On Monday morning a further HVP was requested from Hampshire.

The fire involved approximately 10,000 cubic meters of household waste which involves a significant amount of the landfill’s contents. The waste is approximately 25 meters deep, the face of the fire extended to this depth and is approximately 150 meters across. The fire service is working closely with the site operators, Viridor, and the Environment Agency to ensure the fire is extinguished effectively, and that all environmental considerations are taken to minimise the effect of the fire to the area.

The fire may burn for a number of days and the fire service continues to extinguish the fire and the weather conditions but it is likely that smoke will be detected in the morning periods as far away as East Dorset. The smell and smoke is not considered to be a risk to public health.