Dump fire prompts safety reminder
Fire doused by Rankin Inlet Fire Department may have been started by discarded cigarette
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
KANGIQLINIQ/RANKIN INLET
A fire that started at Rankin Inlet's dump the afternoon of July 11 is prompting a warning from the fire department to watch where you throw your cigarettes.
Firefighters Nathaniel Hutchinson, left, and Ivano Innukshuk look for hot spots after the extinguishing of a fire at Rankin Inlet's dump. - photo courtesy of Mark Wyatt
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The Rankin Inlet Fire Department was called out to the dump around 6 p.m. that day, according to fire chief Mark Wyatt.
"One of our firefighters, a captain who works for the Co-op, was up at the dump and saw the smoke, and he alerted us to what was going on," Wyatt said. The firefighter in question was Capt. George Aksadjuak, who had been disposing garbage for the Co-op when he noticed smoke.
"I went up and checked it out, and yes, there was a fire burning. (It) was a small fire that could have been a big fire if it hadn't been seen fairly quickly."
It took the fire department about half an hour to put it out, he said. The quick response averted what could have been a major incident.
"We hit it with three fire extinguishers but it was getting rather out-of-hand by the time the first truck got on scene."
The fire flared up on the back side of the dump, just off a perimeter road that goes around the site.
"I'm thinking it was probably a cigarette that was tossed, because a lot of people smoke up here and they throw their cigarettes out the window," Wyatt said.
Considering the dryness of the season, Wyatt took to social media to remind people how quickly the tundra burns and advise them to make sure cigarettes are put out and ideally not thrown on the ground.
A major dump fire, he wrote, would be a disaster for the community.
"Next time we may not be so lucky," he wrote.
In 2014, the hamlet saw a dump fire flare up and rage for a week.
At the time, then-deputy mayor Sam Tutanuak speculated the fire could have been smouldering for months. Wind reportedly blew dark smoke as far as Chesterfield Inlet as well as into Rankin Inlet, prompting the hamlet to use the arena as a place for people seeking refuge from the smoke.
At one point, the site of the fire had to be evacuated by firefighters after a series of unexplained explosions deemed it too dangerous to fight.
Wyatt said another significant dump fire could have dire consequences.
"If that dump decides to catch on fire and go, it becomes a very big issue for this community both in terms of expense to put it out and the smoke and everything coming off it," Wyatt told Kivalliq News.
"There's all sorts of things in it that we don't want to see burning."
