Alleged Haitian starts fire at the Cancino Adentro landfill

A fire in the area where tires are stored at the old Cancino Adentro landfill, in Santo Domingo Este, generated during the early hours of Saturday, August 8 a huge column of smoke felt across several sectors of the area. The fire was brought under control with no victims, according to the authorities, who are investigating how it started.

How it started

The fire began around 2:00 a.m. and forced firefighters and emergency agencies to mobilize quickly to prevent the flames from reaching nearby homes, some made of wood. The large amount of accumulated tires and waste made the fire generate an intense column of smoke and complicated the extinguishing work.

The Public-Private Trust for Integrated Solid Waste Management (DO Sostenible) clarified that the incident did not originate inside the transfer station or in the main body of the old landfill, but in a contiguous area where tires were stored.

“Phase 6”: the emergency response

The Santo Domingo Este Fire Department classified the incident as “phase 6”, activating a coordinated deployment of about 14 emergency units from several jurisdictions: firefighters from Santo Domingo Este, the National District, San Luis and Santo Domingo Norte, the National Police, a support drone from the 911 system and CAASD tanker trucks to secure the water supply.

The waste transfer station temporarily suspended operations as a preventive measure. Later, the authorities confirmed that it suffered no structural damage and resumed operations.

The version circulating in the neighborhood

A version circulating among community members claims that a person of Haitian nationality had been burning a mattress and that the flames spread until they caused the fire. However, as of this publication there is no official confirmation of that identity or that everything began with a burning mattress: that version should be treated as a community account, not a confirmed fact.

What the authorities did report, preliminarily, is that they are investigating the possibility that the fire was intentionally set by people still unidentified.

The key figure

Zero victims. Despite the scare and the firefighters’ work, no deaths or seriously affected people were reported, and the transfer station infrastructure remained intact. Now the authorities are investigating to establish exactly how the fire started and who was responsible.