Iqaluit fire crews battle dump fire

Iqaluit firefighters and city workers are scrambling Friday to contain a fire at the local landfill, where a steep pile of construction debris is burning over a large area.

The fire was reported around 2:30 a.m. ET, when smoke was spotted blowing across Frobisher Bay. The construction debris is burning in an area roughly the size of half a football field.

"It's a game of containment right now," Iqaluit fire Chief Walter Oliver told CBC News later Friday morning, as workers driving front-end loaders worked on digging a massive trench at the dump.

Oliver said the fire could be going for upwards of a week, given there is "all sorts of flammables, combustibles" burning there.

"The fire that's gotten in there is extremely deep-seated," he said. "It's just layers and layers and layers of densely packed combustibles; all kinds of nastiness in there."

Oliver said the wind has been a mixed blessing: it has been blowing smoke and steam away from the city and out to sea, but it has also been fanning the flames.

To fight the fire, crews are using City of Iqaluit water delivery trucks. As a result, there may be some disruption to water delivery services on Friday, Oliver said.

Oliver said he does not believe the landfill fire to be suspicious. Firefighters may decide at some point to let the fire smoulder, he added.