Iqaluit fire department lines up info session on dump-dousing plan

The City of Iqaluit has contracted an Alberta firm called Hellfire Suppression Services Inc. to extinguish its three-month-old dump fire. City and company officials will host an information session Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. in the parish hall. (FILE PHOTO)

Iqaluit residents can learn more about the city’s plans to extinguish the three-month-old dump fire in a public information session Aug. 25.

The fire department will host the meeting with Hellfire Suppression Services Inc., an Alberta-based industrial firefighting company recently contracted to help put out the blaze, Iqaluit fire chief Luc Grandmaison told Nunatsiaq News Aug. 22.

The city organized the session largely in response to a demand by a group of concerned citizens earlier this month.

The group, “Iqalummiut for Action,” asked city council for the session at an Aug. 12 meeting.

Grandmaison said city staff and the firefighting contractor will attend the meeting, but could not confirm whether territorial or federal officials would be there, as the group demanded.

In essence, the meeting will provide “information on how we will fight the fire, that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

The fire department has set Aug. 27 as the start date for the city’s plan to extinguish the dump, and the target still holds, Grandmaison said.

All remaining equipment and personnel needed to carry out the operation are expected to arrive in Iqaluit on Sunday, Aug. 24.

Time frames are looking good so far, the chief said. The city will provide more details at the meeting, including any possible road closures that may be required.

Contractor Hellfire Suppression Services Inc. specializes in industrial firefighting, including “well control” and “blowout recovery” in oil fields, according to the company’s website, as well as “landfill and storage pile” firefighting.

The fire department has limited the dump fire to a single pile, about 120 metres by 80 m large, and 10 m high, since it started May 20.

Firefighters will follow a dump-dousing plan that involves pumping seawater onto the pile, and removing the top-most sections to a quenching pond.

The department has set Sept. 30 as the target date to put out the blaze.

Iqaluit’s dump-extinguishment information session takes place at the St. Jude’s Anglican Church Parish Hall on Monday, Aug. 25 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.