North Van consultant gives advice on stubborn Iqaluit dump fire
Posted August 2, 2014 7:14 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
IQALUIT (NEWS1130) – A stubborn fire at a landfill in Iqaluit, Nunavut is a chance for a North Vancouver man to share his expertise.
The remote city is desperate to address the fire, which has been smouldering for more than two months.
“To put it out, it’s not easy. You can’t just dump a bunch of water on top of it. It just wouldn’t work,” says Tony Sperling of Sperling Hansen Associates, landfill fire specialists.
The smoke is coming from an area of the landfill about the size of a football field and four storeys high, prompting officials to issue air quality warnings.
“We’re going to have to dig down to the fire, and overhaul the whole pile, because the fire is throughout the whole pile,” Sperling notes, adding the fire is the result of spontaneous combustion.
After visiting the city dump, Sperling concluded machinery will be needed to burrow into the heap but admits that’s going to be costly because the city is so remote.
“There isn’t a single road into town. Everything has to be flown in or taken in by a sealift. Throughout the summer months they are able to bring in freighters with containers on the sealift. But it means it’s going to cost twice as much.”
He and the local fire chief have worked on a comprehensive action plan, and now they’re waiting for the municipality to okay the project, which could cost $2.5 million.
