MONT Cuet tip is in danger of being closed down as a fire continues to burn deep inside it.

Several efforts have been made to extinguish the blaze that has led to a section of the tip being fenced off.

Environmental Health is against allowing leachate levels to rise, a solution proposed by a consultant, and so more holes will be drilled to locate the hot spot. Ultimately the tip’s licence could be removed if the fire spreads, creating the risk of collapse, that would add to the pressure already mounting to build a waste plant to deal with the island’s rubbish.

Public Services member Tony Spruce sounded the alarm bells about the fire at the most recent meeting of the Waste Disposal Authority. ‘If the fire keeps migrating, we could find ourselves unable to operate the site, We have to put that fire out or we won’t be able to use the tip,’ he said.