The fire at the Belize City dump – it’s been burning off and on since early April. And while the Fire Department and the City Council have put in a tremendous effort to defeat it, activity is not accomplishment, and this weekend the fire became even worse. Tonight, the putrid smell of smoke from the dump is hanging over Belize City – and most residents tell us that they are just plain fed up. But, there’s no easy fix, and no magic wand to make it all go away. It is a problem whose source lies deep in the toxic bowels of the dump, but to get a better understanding of it, today we went overhead with Astrum helicopters to get a sense of the scale of it. And tonight we can tell you it is enormous.

Jules Vasquez Reporting,
From above the city dump on the windward side – the fire smoldering across the 50 acre area forms a dense, impenetrable fog. But coming in from the other side, the sprawling area looks like the parched surface of another planet. Vultures scatter beneath the chopper’s downdraft while their human counterparts continue their daily duty of collecting.

The immensity of it is staggering, from above you can see that the two areas, the old and the new are both on fire, making this dump fire the biggest one yet. The source of the fire is buried deep beneath layers of trash; at a place where water can’t easily reach it, and it’s a point where it would only make a temporary difference. So what to do? Gilroy Lewis is the National Solid Waste Management Program has a plan.

Gilroy Lewis, Director – Solid Waste Management Project
“The problem is rather complex. It is not as easy but what we plan to do consists of three basic measures. The first measure is to identify a new area for disposal within the property because what has happened is garbage has been dumped on top of smouldering garbage and then it just catches fire. So it is necessary to have an isolated area for the disposal of current garbage and then we are working on that.

The other measure that we will be implementing is the construction of fire passes in the existing area that is being burnt. So what we will do is we will section off the site and then excavate some trenches and fill those trenches with fill material, the one that you use to fill your yards, and then we will attack each of those sections with a combination of water and fill material. The water by itself won’t do the job, you need to combine it with fill material. That is number 2 and then number three will be to institute some control measures at the site.”

Phillip Willoughby, City Councillor in Charge of Sanitation
“There will new regulations here. This will be the new pass that will be used to enter the dumpsite, the landfill one. There will be a form as I shared with you that they will have to fill out and adhere to once they enter the landfill. There are rules and regulations within the policy document that was shared with us from the Solid Waste Management Authority and those will be implemented. The adequate and relevant personnel on the ground will need to actually implement what is being said here because if they themselves do not follow the rules then another outbreak will reoccur.”

It sounds good, but sectioning off this vast fiery area will take great time and effort and smothering it, a great volume of resources.

Gilroy Lewis,
“It is quite difficult to put a timeline on this because what has happened is the situation has gotten out of control and so it is more difficult to attack it and give a timeline because when you do this type of work you advance little by little and then you just make sure that the gains that you have made, in other words the areas that you have extinguished, do not catch fire again. So it is quite difficult to give a timeline but we will be looking at maybe two weeks more or less to get this completely under control.”

Jules Vasquez,
Looking back now do you wish that you all had embarked on this many weeks ago when it first flared up?

Phillip Willoughby,
“The management structure that we will put in place for the landfill should have been there. No fault of no one, we are at this juncture….”

Jules Vasquez,
It has to be someone’s fault Councillor. It is not an act of God.

Phillip Willoughby,
“Yes and I recently received the portfolio and we are putting in place the necessary measures and mechanisms to ensure that there is no revisiting what we have seen here.”

Jules Vasquez,
If the right steps had been taken when you all were here in April, we were out here with you. If the right steps had been taken then we wouldn’t be looking at the problem we are looking at now.

Phillip Willoughby,
“In effect the policy making part of my role within the council is just that. The implementation aspect is another.”

Jules Vasquez,
You’re passing the buck councillor.

Phillip Willoughby,
“No I am not saying that I am passing the buck. I am telling you that measures will be put in place to deal with persons who, if deemed negligent or so forth in not abiding by the guidelines and the policies then we have to deal with those persons. These policies are not to be taken lightly.”

Jules Vasquez,
But you’ve been out here since Easter, you’ve been on the ground since Easter. Could you all not have sought the proper solution from then instead of just taking it as, ‘well mek we throw water on it?’

Phillip Willoughby,
“Yes I agree. I will not dodge you and say we couldn’t have and I will not make any apologies. We for some reason, like I said the implementation aspect of it wasn’t followed through.”

Jules Vasquez,
You wouldn’t tell city residents to expect relief within the next two days?

Phillip Willoughby,
“What I can say is that after it has been extinguished, I beg to differ that there mightn’t be any reoccurrence.”

Jules Vasquez,
But looking at your plan, it seems good on paper but it is a month.

Phillip Willoughby,
“It will take a little time in fact.”

Jules Vasquez,
Let’s be specific.

Phillip Willoughby,
“I am not God Jules and I don’t want that role.”

Jules Vasquez,
The electorate wants to know when will this all be out.

Phillip Willoughby,
“I am humbly to all voters out there and supporters, I will be lying if I said a timeline and I can’t adhere to that. I would simply be lying to you and you don’t want those kinds of politicians.”

The attempt to suppress the fire in April cost $300,000, according to Willoughby. This time it will also be costly, but far less so because he tells us that Belize Aggregates has committed to provide any amount of fill that is required to suppress it, free of cost. And while the toxic nature of the fumes is a community concern, there’s some relief for those in the thick of the fire as gas masks have been imported to filter out those toxins.