A fire at a recycling landfill in southeastern Calgary still burned on Saturday, posing a risk to the health of residents in the area.
Environment Canada issued a special statement on air quality in connection with the fire that broke out in ECCO Recycling on Friday night.
The agency said in a statement that the fire “produces increased levels of air pollutants in the area.”
“People may experience symptoms such as coughing, sore throat, headache or shortness of breath. Children, the elderly and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are at particular risk,” writes Environment Canada.
The air quality declaration was dropped at around 2 p.m.
The Calgary Fire Department responded to the ECCO fire around 8:10 p.m., after several Quarry Park residents reported extensive smoke in the area.
As of Saturday afternoon, the teams were still on site, pumping approximately 13,000 liters of water into the fire every minute.
Officials say they are making progress.
“The problem with landfill fires is that they are really deep and very deep in the ground,” said CFD Battalion Chief Paul Frederick. “It’s a combination of suffocating them with soil and applying them with water. They’re just stubborn, stubborn fire that takes a long time to put out.”
Officers also helped put out the blaze, but lost a bulldozer in the process.
No one was injured.
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