A photograph posted to Facebook of yesterday’s fire.
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE New Providence landfill is on fire again, Fire Chief Walter Evans confirmed yesterday.
Superintendent Evans said the fire started on Saturday night. Authorities neither know the cause of the fire nor can they estimate when it will be extinguished, he said.
City dump fires have been a recurrent problem for years.
A solid waste management company, Renew Bahamas, was brought on last year by the government to help address the matter.
Renew Bahamas has said that it believes the fires represent concentrated arson attacks on the site and its facilities.
On January 17, a massive fire started at the dump, causing residents of the area to express concerns about respiratory issues.
Some also expressed disappointment in successive governments for their failure to fix the issue as promised.
In January, Andrew Knowles, Renew Bahamas’ head of communications, told this newspaper that the company was bolstering its security personnel to prevent its suspected instances of arson from happening in the future.
The last fire at the dump forced the temporary closure of the nearby Meridian school.
Several smaller fires have plagued the landfill since January.
In mid-February, Mr Knowles said Renew Bahamas workers had soaked most of the landfill and covered it with fill.
Last March, a fire burned at the dump for several weeks, causing school closures and discomfort for nearby residents.
Comments
Mayaguana34 9 years, 8 months ago
Same fire - it was never out!! Smouldered and now its back to life - Renew my @#!
realfreethinker 9 years, 8 months ago
Bwave what happen you guys have to " renew " efforts to get that fire out
asiseeit 9 years, 8 months ago
You and I are paying to put this fire out, NOT renew, mark my words. Renew is just a recycler of select items that end up in the landfill. Once again the Bahamian people get swing and they do not even know it!
Economist 9 years, 8 months ago
Renew don't have a clue about garbage dumps. They certainly seem to know a lot about grease though. Anybody seen how government awarded Renew the contract?
TheMadHatter 9 years, 8 months ago
Amazing that security cameras simply don't seem to work at that site. Something strange with the Earth's magnetic field in that area, perhaps?
TheMadHatter
John 9 years, 8 months ago
Several nights after they claimed the fire out the Western part of new providence was covered in smoke. Those operating the city dump claimed the smoke wasn't theirs but was coming from another property. Now they are admitting the dump is on fire. What a sham! Why are taxpayers money being spent to contract so called professionals and yet we face the same problems? This fire has caused local residents thousands of dollars in doctor visits, in days missed from school or work and not to mention the level of misery and discomfort from having to inhale garbage-drenched smoke 24 hours a day.
watcher 9 years, 8 months ago
Maybe it needs the smoke to be blown to Baha Mar before any action will be taken. Our Chinese masters will certainly not stand for that.
bandit 9 years, 8 months ago
That dump is full of methane gas. Until that dump site place a system to remove the methane gas there will always be fires at that site. As someone has mentioned already, the fire was never out, it probably was still active under the ground.
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