Surat: Plastic waste dumped in the open by hotfix units caught fire at two locations in the city’s Puna area early Monday, prompting a swift response from Surat Fire and Emergency Services (SFES). No casualties or property damage were reported.SFES control room received a call around 4.13am about a fire near Archana School in Puna. Firefighters were immediately dispatched to the spot and the fire was extinguished before it could spread to nearby properties.The firefighting team spotted another fire approximately 500 metres away, near a creek. They soon launched a second operation to extinguish the flames at the second location.Officials said the fires involved waste generated from thin plastic sheets used in the hotfix process to apply rhinestones to fabric. Once used, these sheets are discarded, generating tonnes of plastic waste daily. The material is highly inflammable and can catch fire and burn rapidly.Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) had been collecting such waste from hotfix units for the past few years, despite the plastic falling under a prohibited category. However, the collection process has been discontinued over the past few months. Following the halt, unit owners have allegedly started dumping the waste in open spaces at various locations across the city.“It is suspected that some people are setting the waste on fire after dumping it. It being a highly inflammable plastic, it immediately catches fire and burns within minutes,” a fire official said.The official warned that such fires could damage nearby properties and trigger secondary incidents if the flames spread.SFES officials said similar incidents had been reported in the past, including cases in which vehicles were damaged after fires broke out in heaps of discarded hotfix plastic waste.
