The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

DUMPSITE fires on Abaco have returned to public focus after political hopeful Crystal Williams shared a video showing an active blaze at the Snake Cay landfill, renewing calls for action on an issue residents say has persisted for years.

In the video, recorded on Sunday, thick black smoke can be seen rising from the Snake Cay Road landfill as Ms Williams drives toward the site. She said the fire involved the burning of construction debris, tyres, tar and other mixed materials — which she said produced the dark smoke visible in the footage and posed a health hazard to nearby communities.

In the video, Ms Williams, the Coalition of Independents’ candidate for Central and South Abaco, alleged that the fires were intentional and used as a method of garbage disposal.

“The smoke from the debris that is being burnt here at this dump site is very hazardous to the health of Abaconians,” she said. “This smoke is going to end up in the community of Spring City.”

Speaking with The Tribune, Ms Williams said she has called for a town hall meeting on Wednesday and hopes the media will attend to draw wider attention to what she described as a long-running problem on the island.

She said she has written to Central and South Abaco MP John Pinder, North Abaco MP Kirk Cornish, and the Office of the Prime Minister, but has received no response.

Ms Williams said her primary concern is the impact the smoke is having on residents, particularly those living in Spring City.

“Most of our elderly are suffering from respiratory problems,” she said. “If you are inhaling toxic smoke every day and you’re constantly coughing, can’t sleep, and have to go to the doctor, for many of them their blood pressure is through the roof.”

She also said she knows residents who paid “almost $1,800” in medical expenses related to respiratory issues she linked to smoke exposure. Ms Williams said nebulisers were distributed to some residents but claimed that some were unable to obtain the medication needed to use them.

Roscoe Thompson, chairman of the Marsh Harbour and Spring City Township, said the Snake Cay dumpsite is “burned almost every day,” adding that he has personally smelled smoke in Marsh Harbour “for the last couple of days.”

Mr Thompson said burning has become a routine waste-management practice.

“What happens is a dump gets filled up so quickly, and if it’s not pushed in time, somebody will go there and burn it, and then they’ll push it,” he said. “That’s the only way they can get rid of the trash — they burn it and then they push it.”

He said responsibility for the site does not fall under local government but under central government through the Department of Environmental Health, adding that the Snake Cay landfill has “probably tripled in size in the last two years.”

“They took a lot of stuff out of the Spring City dump site and dumped it out at Snake Cay,” he said.

Mr Thompson said local government previously explored conducting air-quality testing during periods of active burning but was unable to proceed due to cost, with professional testing estimated at around $20,000.

He said the long-term solution would be to restore Snake Cay as a properly operated landfill, rather than relying on open burning. Waste, he said, should be segregated — with household garbage placed in lined landfill cells and vegetation and construction debris handled separately.

Mr Thompson added that Abaco once had a functioning landfill system, but said the infrastructure was damaged and never fully restored.