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The fire at the city dump...it’s an almost annual event, where in the warm months, dry conditions, a vast array of flammable items, and reckless burning of copper cables and the like all create perfect conditions to create a fire that goes as deep as it is wide. Tonight, crews from the Fire Department, Ministry of Works, and the City Council are still working to contain the blaze which got out of control over the weekend. Keith Swift went into the dump.

Keith Swift Reporting,
This was what it looked like this afternoon at mile on the Western Highway as a thick fog of smoke blanketed a stretch of the highway near the new dump - dramatically reducing visibility. The source of the smoke is the garbage dump here at mile 3 on the Western Highway. It has been smouldering for days but right now we’re in the middle of it and there is of course a lot of smoke but now there are also flames.

Phillip Willoughby, Councillor in charge of sanitation
“Looking at what has been taking place, the old dump site was what was burning first, up until last week. We had that out, we had all the equipments and the equipments left. Again it would only be speculating but the Fire Department would have to conclude on this matter, but the persons who are in this dumpsite burning those copper wires and digging and so forth, have to be considered as an external factor that could have restarted this fire way down this way.

This morning when I came in we saw fire in this….as you can see fire is there. The fire is there as you can see.”

7News drove inside the heart of the fire where workmen from the City Council and heavy equipment from the Ministry of Works are working to extinguish the fire from the ground up.

Phillip Willoughby,
“The Fire Department will be working from behind the fire where the wind is blowing from to wet it and the extravator will be digging up to get to the bottom where the fumes are going. Thirdly we will dig a trench from the old dumpsite and start wetting from just beyond that point forward. The Belize City Council Sanitation Department, the staff that works on the trucks that deal with the hot spots, are out here complementing the Fire Department in terms of moving the hose and digging and so forth.”

Keith Swift,
Right now this can’t be healthy Mr. Willoughby.

Phillip Willoughby,
“Keith yes it is very unsanitary, it is unsafe.”

And the effects from mile 3 are being felt, or in this case smelt, all the way in the Jane Usher Boulevard area where right now the air is crisp and clean but residents say that is misleading.

Robert Lalin, Jane Usher Blvd. Resident
“Right right now it is not affecting us because if you notice the breeze is blowing east. So all of this smoke is blowing that way but when the breeze changes later on or in the morning, definitely we will suffer in it, definitely and it affects us a lot.”

Keith Swift,
So what will be your plan for later?

Robert Lalin,
“Well when the dust shifts, actually basically it is open up the house because if you close the house, all the smoke will stay right in there and so basically you stay with the house open open. That is the only preparation we can do because other than that, you can’t leave your house to go nowhere else.”

Yvonne Moore, Jane Usher Blvd. Resident
“I always say I wish they could do something about it because I live back here like four years now and I notice that every time this time of the year comes, we have that problem.”

Keith Swift,
So around what time it normally starts?

Yvonne Moore,
“Around this same time like when the land wind blows it affects me but when the breeze is coming from that direction. You can already smell it, you don’t smell it. I smell it right now even though the wind is strong so and so you can imagine what happens when it really comes from that direction.”

Keith Swift,
How do you prepare for it, do you have to open up your house or lock up your house?

Yvonne Moore,
“I don’t usually completely shut the window but at times I have to completely shut it but by that time, it is already in the house and especially in cement houses, things normally affect you more when it comes smoke wise and so.”

Councillor Phillip Willoughby says they are working on a long term solution – but until then these large clouds of smoke are expected to continue billowing from the dump for another two days.

Councillor Willoughby says work will conclude tonight at 8 pm and restart first thing tomorrow morning.