Fire still burns at garbage dump
On Monday we reported on the nasty fire at the Belize City garbage dump…and three days later we regret to inform residents that things are not yet back to normal. Patrick Jones once again finds himself surrounded by a foul environment.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
It’s not a pretty sight and the smoke and stench coming from the landfill at mile three on the Western Highway is not pleasant either, as a smouldering fire has been making life difficult for people who frequent this part of town.
John Frampton Jr., Works at Mile 3 1/2
“This is a horrible, horrible nightmare for us here at three and half miles on the Western Highway, employees of CISCO Construction. This is like living in hell, honestly it is, this is some real toxic smoke, its terrible.”
Resident, Mile 3 1/2
“Yes I do ask them please move because as I said couple years ago I suffered the same thing and it took about one month before they really get rid of it. So I already know that my family would be very much affected by it, so I had to let them move out on Sunday.”
Director of the city’s Sanitation Department Lawrence Ellis says that since Saturday, work crews have been hard at work, and while progress has been slow, the nightmare is almost over.
Lawrence Ellis, Dir. of Sanitation, Belize City Council
“the fire has been contained, it’s not going to be spreading anymore and it’s going down. What happen right now is that the depth of garbage is about twelve feet, up here now, ten to twelve feet in some areas and the fire is burning down. So what you’re seeing, you’re not seeing any flames but you’re going to see the smoke. And this is going to be for a while until the area that it’s contained in is burned out.”
Patrick Jones
“The fire has been burning for over five days now, and although the city sanitation manager says the situation is under control, residents of the areas that border the city dumpsite may just have to endure another week of smoke.”
Lawrence Ellis
“Well we have not done an official test on the smoke, but it’s a landfill so the smoke is not the healthiest of smoke to be breathing in. The smoke is very regrettable. The council regrets the inconvenience caused to the residents. We are working on it to get it our as soon as we can. We have our truck up here working on it, we have CISCO construction who have dug a trench across the landfill and they are pumping with a six inch pump in the back filling up with water, so hopefully by next week we should have this thing to a minimal.”
Patrick Jones
“So in the meantime, residents along this area will just have to grin and bear?”
Lawrence Ellis
“Unfortunately.”
Ellis says he expects the trouble of extinguishing the fire will carry a price tag in excess of ten thousand dollars. But in terms of human misery, the damage even more costly.
John Frampton Jr.
“It contaminate all our rainwater, we had to dump all our rainwater out, so now we’re back to the city water. I tried calling the Mayor’s office one day and they put the phone down on me before I could have gotten an answer. Unfortunately that wasn’t the answer I was looking for and we want to see this fire out. We need it out; it’s hurting a lot of people. I am sure if it was in December and the north wind coming down and blowing this smoke in the city, I am sure we would have had better results by now.”
Patrick Jones
“What would you want the officials at City Hall to do?”
John Frampton Jr.
“I want this fire out.”
While it was originally thought the source of ignition was a carelessly discarded cigarette, Ellis believes that the combination of decaying garbage and hot sun last Saturday spontaneously ignited the fire that still burns tonight. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
CISCO has donated its excavators and pump in the effort to douse the fires.
