Rome prosecutors are not ruling
out the hypothesis that a huge blaze at a trash-processing
facility in the capital overnight could have been caused by
sabotage or another form of foul play, sources said Tuesday.
The fire at the 2,000-square-metre centre managed by trash
company AMA produced thick smoke on via Salaria, in the north of
the historic capital, and the smell of smoke reached the centre.
Firefighters have brought the blaze under control but it will
take some time to put the fire out completely.
The city council advised people in the area to keep their
windows closed and refrain from outdoor activities such as
jogging.
The local authority said Lazio's ARPA environmental agency
had not registered air-pollution levels outside the permitted
parameters.
But aside from the effects of the blaze, the loss of a
facility that processes a big chuck of the capital's waste that
residents have been separated for recycling looks set to cause
big problems for trash management.
"The plant should have been closed before," said the head of
the borough in the area of Rome affected, Giovanni Caudo, a
long-standing opponent of the Tmb Salario plant, who shut a
nearby nursery school as a precautionary measure.
"Obviously nothing more can come here and we'll all have to
seriously work together so that the trash that does not come
here does not end up in the street.
"Almost 25% of Rome's separated trash for recycling came
here.
"It is impossible to get the TMB working again because the
machinery is compromised".
Stefano Laporta, the head of the Higher Institute for
Environmental Protection and Research (ISPR), echoed those
sentiments.
"Once the fire is out, it will be possible to establish the
cause," said Laporta.
"The fire is serious but what is worrying is the management
of refuse in Rome in the coming days".
Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi made an appeal to "all the cities
of Lazio and of the other regions to cooperate at this time,
especially as it is before Christmas, to support AMA to resolve
this situation temporarily and as soon as possible".
Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into the crime
of 'culpable disaster' in relation to the fire at the Tmb
Salario facility.
The prosecutors are set to put part of waste-processing
facility under sequester.
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