Weaknesses in the waste management system at the city dump have been shown up in the wake of a six-week subterranean blaze at the dump that required more than 1,700 hours and a task force including six firemen and a team from the Department of Environmental Health Services to conquer.
It appears that the nature and composition of the 125-acre landfill lends itself to “spontaneous combustion,” which officials believe caused this most recent fire at the dump.
“Would (such a fire that erupted spontaneously) occur again?” ASP Jeffery Deleveaux of Fire Services asked.
“Whenever the conditions are right,” he continued, “it will happen because of the nature of the landfill. This is why we are going to be on top of it, and as soon as it starts, in its incipient stages we would just knock it out.”
The fixes DEHS has in the works for the dump site are mainly waste management changes, as Assistant Director of Environmental Health Services Roscoe Ferguson explained.
Mr. Ferguson pointed out that “there is no different type of landfill, per seﾅThe makeup of the landfill has gases being emitted, and in the summer months you can have spontaneous combustion because of the chemical breakdown,” he said.
“You can have a piece of glass bottle (ignite) a piece of paper from the rays of the sun. Thereﾒs a lot of variables that can cause the fire to start. Itﾒs just a matter of us being on top of it when it (does) occur.”
ASP Deleveaux said Fire Services has begun a procedure whereby a fire services officer will be detailed to come to the dump once a month to report and take immediate action against any sign of fire.
In terms of changes in waste management, Mr. Ferguson said the department plans to “deconstruct” the landfill, or remove the waste that has been deposited, all the soil and detritus, and sift it. The soil would then be used to recover the dumpsite, and the solid matter would be separated.
“And also we have plans to acquire some equipment sometime in the future [with which] we can process the waste, reduce the volume and that sort of thing,” Mr. Ferguson added.
The fire burned at the dump off the Tonique Williams-Darling Highway from April 28 through June 14, and required DEHS tractors to cut down a hill at the dump to allow Fire Services access to the subterranean blaze.
The team faced several challenges combating the fire including visibility and respiratory problems ﾖ in fact, on one occasion smoke actually scalded DEHS tractor driver Craig McPhee.
Inclement weather was another challenge the officers faced, but according to Sergeant Elroy Knowles, who led the team, those battling the subterranean blaze relished the fight.
“It was exciting,” Sergeant Knowles admitted. “There were tense moments, as well as moments of laughter [that] you can cherish and have lifetime memoriesﾅSometimes [we were fighting the fire [for] more [than eight hours a day], most of the time through rainy conditionsﾅWe worked under some strenuous conditions at times.”
Both ASP Deleveaux and Mr. Ferguson noted a need for better security at the dump.
ASP Deleveaux mentioned specifically the need for the monitoring of scavengers at the dumpsite.
“Though we can keep [the fires under control] we cannot control the vagrant who comes in and who smokes a cigarette, and carelessly discards the cigarette on the dumpsite causing a surface fire,” he said.
Mr. Ferguson concurred, noting that while the DEHS has a little more control over scavengers through the Municipal Solid Waste (primarily for household goods), the construction demolition site ﾖ where the fire occurred ﾖ needs more security.
“We need to put a handle on it, where we could have it controlled and monitored. As it is now, we need to put some policies in place where we could have an idea who is out there and what they are doing so that we can have people held accountable for their activities,” he said. “We need some enforcement and security as well.”
Mr. Ferguson said the problem is the size of the property ﾖ 125 acres is a lot to secure. He noted that the property had been fenced, but that the fence was gradually pulled down. He recommended a stronger barrier, made of blocks.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
