The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE fire that started at the New Providence landfill over the weekend is about “60 per cent” extinguished, Renew Bahamas officials said yesterday.

Andrew Knowles, Renew Bahamas’ head of communications, said more than 60 per cent of the burned area has already been covered and the company is continuing to place material on the southern flanks, the remaining heavily smoky areas. Renew Bahamas is the company responsible for managing and operating the landfill.

However, Mr Knowles warned that residents in the surrounding communities could expect to experience discomfort from the smoke “for a further few days”.

He said the company has placed approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day on the fire, along with about 2,500 tons of “wet fine material”. He added that this has prevented the fire from spreading underground into the waste mass, which he said would fuel the “historic subterranean fire there”.

He said the current fire is “mainly on top of the covered area at a minimal depth”.

Mr Knowles’ update on the fire came after a concerned resident of Cable Beach questioned whether preventing dump fires was a priority for the government, adding that he has fears of negative health effects from chemical exposure.

The fire began on Saturday.

Yesterday, in a statement, Mr Knowles said the company is “making steady progress” with its fire fighting efforts.

“Through the use of a combination of heavy-duty and specialist equipment, the company has placed approximately 300,000 gallons of water per day on the fire, along with about 2,500 tons of wet fine material,” Renew Bahamas said yesterday.

“Residents in the surrounding communities can expect to experience discomfort from the smoke for a further few days. Renew Bahamas thanks the public for its continued support.”

When contacted yesterday, Cable Beach resident David Lee questioned the government’s action in dealing with the vexing problem, which, if not acted upon aggressively could potentially wind up becoming “another Rubis” situation.

Mr Lee was referring to an independent report prepared by Black and Veatch International last year that found that Marathon residents were “possibly exposed to harmful chemicals”, including cancer-causing benzene due to the fuel release of 12,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline in late 2012.

“My main concern is I’d just like to know that it’s a priority, that we don’t find out ten years from now that children are being born with all sorts of birth defects and that we’re getting cancers from all that,” Mr Lee said yesterday. “I would hope that this has come to the attention of the minister of the environment and that something is being done about it. That we don’t find out 10-20 years down the line, and I’m worried that this could be another Rubis.”

In January, Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett expressed disgust at what he called an “ongoing problem of arson at the landfill and an inability to identify the persons who access it to light the fires”.

Mr Dorsett said the fires would not deter the government “in any way, shape or form with respect to the reforms that we see necessary for landfills not only in New Providence, but all of the Family Islands”.

On Sunday, however, DNA Leader Branville McCartney criticised successive PLP and FNM administrations for failing to improve conditions at the Harold Road landfill that would prevent such fires from ever taking place.

He questioned what it would take to have a government that is “smart enough and proactive enough to approach this problem head on, find a solution and solve it once and for all.