Alleged arson attack at dump in Morant Bay, St Thomas

Shanna-Kaye Monteith, Gleaner Writer

Arsonists are believed to be behind a fire that was set to a section of the Morant Bay Dump in Church Corner in St Thomas this morning.

Firefighters told The Gleaner that they received a call about the fire at 5:30 this morning and a unit from Morant Bay was dispatched.

They say the fire was set to the west wing of the dump.

A unit from Yallahs was called in to help fight the blaze.

The blaze was eventually extinguished and firefighters are now conducting cooling down activities.

They say that this is not the first time that the dump is being set on fire.

While at the scene, reporters were verbally attacked by personnel attached to the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), which has responsibility for the dump, who demanded that they leave the site stating that they were not authorised to be there.

They refused, indicating that they were doing their jobs.

The NSWMA personnel then threatened to call the police to have them removed.

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