Yellowknife (May 21/03) - A smouldering fire erupted to the surface of a garbage pile at the dump Saturday.

Smoke, the suffocating smell of burning garbage and squawking seagulls filled the air above the dump while the Yellowknife Fire Department and the city's public works department brought a surface fire under control.

The fire department was called in at 10:05 a.m. when the facility's crews couldn't control the outburst in the 40 km/h winds.

"This particular fire had worked its way up after burning for sometime," explained Lt. Chucker Dewar, a few hours later.

"A garbage fire can smoulder and burn underground for years. Once you've had one you always have to be watching for it to come to the surface."

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the surface fire and about an hour to help the public works department dig a fire break to prevent the underground fire from spreading.

The fire probably originated 10 to 15 feet below the surface trash, said Dewar.

These kind of fires are often caused by something warm being dumped into the refuse or "heated compression," he said. It can smoulder for years until enough oxygen brings it to the surface.

"A fire at the dump is nothing new but we try not to do it here," said public works superintendent Mike Elgie.

The fire department hasn't had to attend to a garbage fire in more than seven years, said Dewar. But the public works department deals with small ones fairly regularly, said Elgie.

After the firefighters extinguished the surface fire, the public works department stepped in and spread dirt over the garbage to cut the oxygen supply off.

"The best thing to do is keep burying it and choking the air supply so it doesn't feed the fire," said Elgie.

The firefighters were called to the dump a second time that same day but it was a false alarm, said Dewar.

Although public works crews continue to dump sand on the fire site, the dump re-opened to the public Sunday morning at 10 a.m.