‘Fire at material recovery facility in RA Puram a wakeup call’

It would have been a good seven hours after the fire fighters had mauled the fire to the ground and arm-twisted it into submission. But it was still present, not as leaping flames, but in a more insidious form — as toxic compounds released into the air.

The Material Recovery Facility (MRF) functioning at Greater Chennai Corporation’s local ward office on Kamaraj Salai in RA Puram had caught fire in the morning of July 2, 2025. A range of materials parked at the MRF (which is attached to Ward 171; earlier, before the realignment of GCC wards, it was under 173) were nothing more than charred remains. In the evening, while setting foot in the MRF, one could sense off-gassing, as the smell of volatile organic compounds released by the fire was hanging heavy in the air. One can imagine the unnecessary toxic air those living and working around the patch would have been exposed to. Two members of two major residents welfare groups the region — K.L. Balasubramanian of RK Nagarra community and Ganga Sridhar of Mandaveli Raja Street Residents Welfare Association — note that the fire did not raise any eyebrows, at least those of residents. Balasubramanian says this was expected. There had been a fire earlier, and nothing significant was done to prevent the recurrence of a similar event, he says

Fire at the GCC facility on Kamaraj Salai in R.A. Puram

Balasubramanian notes that a significant number of discarded mattresses had been dumped at the MRF; and they had been accumulating for days. Among the materials that caught fire were these mattresses. If they had been cleared periodically, the fire probably could not have happened. The MRF also has many old, discarded furniture.

Ganga Sridhar recalls how a poorly managed MRF on Sringeri Mutt Road, along the Buckingham Canal would frequently catch fire and was eventually closed down. A material recovery facility would hoard a variety of materials, including synthetic materials, and pollution resulting from a fire in an MRF has serious implications for environment and human health. From a video of the fire that had been shot and shared on social media, one could see conservancy workers stepping in to clear some of the materials, thereby minimising the damage. But given the diversity and nature of materials lodged in an MRF, even a moderate fire can let out highly toxic VOCs into the environment.

Both Balasubramanian and Ganga Sridhar hope that learning from this mishap, those managing this MRF on Kamaraj Salai would take effective measures, including regular clearance of collected material, and prevent recurrence of such events.