Pang dump blaze reduced to ‘small fire’ more than 24 hours after it began
Frozen hoses forced firefighters to stop working Friday night, resume Saturday
A dump fire in Pangnirtung, shown here on Friday, continues to burn more than 24 hours after it started, though the hamlet says it’s mostly extinghuished and only a “small fire” remains for firefighters and hamlet crews to work on into the weekend (Photo courtesy of Jamie Evic)
Pangnirtung’s dump fire continued to burn on Saturday — more than 24 hours after it began — though firefighters were able to put out “most of the fire” and the hamlet reported only a “small fire is still visible.”
Mayor Eric Lawlor said Saturday at noon that it was still “smouldering” and that he expected to get a more complete update on the situation later in the afternoon.
“The hamlet and firefighters are doing their best to contain this fire,” according to a public service announced issued by the hamlet on Saturday at 9:45 a.m., calling for “patience and co-operation.”
It repeated Friday’s request that people to stay indoors and avoid the dump area. There were concerns that toxins were being released into the air because the fire that started at the wood dump spread to an area where metals are disposed of.
The fire began before 1 a.m. on Friday. Firefighters and hamlet workers responded as quickly as they could in spite of blizzard winds that fuelled the flames, caused the road to the area to freeze and resulted in equipment breaking down.
Firefighters battled the blaze all day Friday but “called it quits around 11 p.m.” because their hoses froze, the hamlet said.
“Firefighters and hamlet crew will continue [to] try to put out the fire at the wood dump,” the hamlet’s public service announcement stated.
Officials from the hamlet, Nunavut fire marshal’s office, Nunavut’s Community and Government Services Department and RCMP were monitoring the situation on Saturday and asked the public to follow instructions from the hamlet.
Hose Ers.
“Hoser” is a slang word for a Canadian of limited intelligence and little education. Almost always a white man, a hoser is, to some extent, the Canadian equivalent of American terms like “hillbilly” and “redneck” – though without the overtly racist connotations of the latter word. The term hoser entered the popular lexicon in the early 1980s, when it was popularized by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas on the television show SCTV.
Loved SCTV , Tom Hunter show , Beachcombers . The good old 80 s
Yes, Bob and Doug Mackenzie. Makes me want some Canadian Back Bacon and Labatt Blue in a stubby bottle. Those were the days. Whoohoo hoohoo.