Fire smouldering at Brady dump

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This article was published 24/05/2023 (1028 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Crews have left a fire at the Brady landfill to smoulder, warning the public that smoke will continue to be an issue until landfill workers can smother the fire completely.

Firefighters were sent to the Brady Road landfill at 5:13 p.m. Tuesday, where three large compost piles — about 90 metres long, 12 metres wide and four metres high — were burning.

The fire service said such fires involving deep piles of organic material can burn for long periods and are typically dealt with by landfill staff members, who smother the smouldering embers with soil.

“However, with high winds last evening, the fire was generating a large volume of smoke, which was blowing towards the city,” the WFPS said in a news release Wednesday morning.

Crews worked on the fire for seven hours Tuesday, trying to extinguish it and minimize the amount of smoke billowing out, including the use of fire trucks and a water tanker, as well as wildfire equipment.

The WFPS said applying water to the smouldering piles was ineffective and that fire crews decided to let landfill employees monitor the fire while firefighters went back to their stations.

WFPS said it made that decision in order to allow crews to be available for other critical emergencies.

“Employees at the Brady Road Resource Management Facility will continue to work to smother the fire, but smoke will continue to be an issue until the fires are fully extinguished,” the fire service said.

“WFPS crews will return to the site should the fires worsen or spread.”

The fire service said it does not know how the fire started and that no one was hurt.

City spokesman Kalen Qually said it’s uncommon for Winnipeg firefighters to be sent to the Brady landfill.

“It might happen once per year, on average,” he said.

Qually said landfill staff typically use heavy equipment to move clay onto such fires.

“Any fire is approached from the upwind side and then covered with clay by pushing it with a dozer,” he said.

City fire crews are usually only sent to the landfill in a backup role because they don’t have heavy equipment experience. Firefighters can intervene and rescue equipment operators working on the fires if necessary, Qually said.

He said Brady staff members have been trained on addressing landfill fires by the Solid Waste Association of North America and private firm Blue Ridge.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com