Staff
FORT FRANCES—The Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service was called to the landfill Wednesday to fight a fire there.
Fire Chief Gerry Armstrong said Friday morning that the fire had started in the part of the landfill where brush cuttings, garden waste, and building materials are disposed of—not the part where household garbage is dumped.
“They actually had to bring in an excavator, and assist our guys with digging it up and putting it out,” he noted.
Firefighters spent most of Wednesday, and then until noon Thursday, to put the fire out and make sure it wouldn’t flare up again.
Chief Armstrong said the cause could have been any number of things, including spontaneous combustion.
“Fortunately, it was caught soon enough,” he remarked. “That helps a great deal, you can get it stopped.
“It starts burning deep, and that’s the reason we need to bring in the excavator—to dig it up,” he explained.
“Otherwise, you can’t get water to it.
“You could stand there and spray water for weeks probably, and the fire would never go out underneath there.
“It creates its own heat.”
In related news, local firefighters will be leading exercises at the training facility at the Fort Frances Airport this weekend.
About 30 firefighters from Rainy River, Kenora, and Thunder Bay districts will be undergoing training there.
Chief Armstrong said the public may see a little bit of smoke from the airport area, but more than likely this will be generated by smoke machines and not from the actual burning of materials.
If, for some reason, the instructors do end up using a minimal amount of fire during an exercise, it will be a very well-controlled burn confined to the training site, he assured.
(Fort Frances Daily Bulletin)
