EXECUTIVE director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Audley Gordon said that damage to one of the entity’s units in St James is not expected to have any serious impact on its operations in the parish.

Speaking to the Jamaica Observer Monday, Gordon explained that the entity was dealing adequately with the shortfall that had been created with the loss of the unit.

“It will have some limited impact in some ways. We have to just recalibrate the operations and reposition the units and try to pick up the slack,” he said. “It wasn’t anything like it created a big set back but it has created the opportunity for tweaking of the operation and we’re on our way,” he further added.

The incident occurred on Saturday in the vicinity of the Retirement landfill in the parish about 12:30 in the afternoon. The truck at the time was on its way to the landfill with a load of garbage to tip off.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined but the blaze gutted the engine and the cab area. The blaze was put out by a unit from the Jamaica Fire Brigade.

Acting NSWMA Regional Operations Manager Dramaine Jones said the fire developed quickly.

“When the driver came out of the unit and they looked around there was smoke and a little fire coming out near the section connected to the steering area, and after that it intensified,” he explained.

He said that there were no injuries sustained by the workers during the incident.

The truck, one of the International models brought in 2017, was a part of 11 trucks serving the parish of St James.

However, just like the executive director, Jones said the fire would not have any major impact on the services in St James.

“We will be implementing some short-term measures to address the situation and we believe that we will be able to accomplish this,” he explained.

He also disclosed that other trucks that have been down for repair will be brought back on-stream as soon as they are ready to carry out the necessary work.

Currently, the region identified as Western Parks and Markets (WPM), part of the NSWMA, has been benefiting from the recent deployment of 12 new garbage trucks. This came out of 50 trucks that had been brought in by the Government in December 2022.

Following the deployment, backlogs of garbage in the St James and in the space have since been cleared up and residents in most communities have been seeing more regular collections.

This is now set to be boosted as there was a recent announcement that the Government is set to procure more units on the back of those delivered in 2022.