Friday, September 24, 2010

Burning bright

So yes, at some point last night, Iqaluit's dump decided to catch on fire. I woke up this morning, poked my head out between the curtains and noticed the smoke billowing up from across the bay.

"Huh, the dump is on fire," I said, perceptive as a person can be who has been awake for about 45 seconds.

Cathy and I both went about our day and it was when we were coming home for lunch I noticed the dump was still on fire. Which I thought was a bit odd, but I guess it was being a particularly stubborn fire. And as no one was running around town screaming and freaking out about it, I thought no more of it.

Then when coming home, we noticed the dump was really on fire. Previously there was a lot of smoke, but you couldn't see much in the way of flames. But now there were lots of flames. And as you can see from this picture taken around 10:30 this evening from my front deck, the dump fire is still rocking and rolling.



The CBC is reporting the fire might last several more days as it has probably been smoldering for days and it is taking place in an area filled with construction debris. The saving grace so far has been the wind blowing all of the smoke and fumes out over the bay. But if that wind shifts from the west to the south, this house is going to become very unpleasant to live in. Because all of that smoke will blow right on top of us.

I suspect the smoke being blown out the bay is the reason why so many people in town seem to be viewing it as kind of cool and a form of cheap entertainment. Different Iqaluit Facebookers are reporting people going to the dump to watch the fire. I'd make fun of that, but really, as long as it's not their shit burning people will always turn out to watch a fire. However, if that smoke starts to linger over town, we'll see if the slight blase attitude towards it lasts.

Still, I get to watch a massive dump fire from my front porch. Ah, Iqaluit...

Last Five
1. Save me a Saturday night- Neil Diamond
2. Taken away by the fairies - Colleen Power*
3. The back seat of my car - Paul McCartney
4. The crane wife 1 & 2 - The Decemberists
5. Snow is gone (live) - Josh Ritter

3 comments:

Jennith said...

I think that it is perfectly normal for our dump, in Baker Lake, to be on fire - as part of the waste management is burning. No spectacular view, and so we only notice when the wind blows the wrong way. That does look pretty wild.

Anonymous said...

My first thought was of the Simpson's tire fire.

How sad is that.

OM

me, just me said...

I had read your Tweet about that, but then I saw it on another blog and now I am jawdropped.


Wow.