Iqaluit landfill's smoky 'burn box' kindles memories of dumpcano

Smoke from a 'burn box' at the Iqaluitlandfill thatdiverts combustible waste toreduce the chance of another dump fire is bringing back badmemories of last year's dumpcano for some residents.

"There was this terrible smell again," says city resident Francois Fortin. "Reminds me of a frightening past."

• TIMELINE |Iqaluit's 2014 dump fire: a history

Fortin says the smoke looks and smells like the emanations of last year's prolonged landfillfire dubbed a'dumpcano' after the city's fire chief compared it to a volcano of smouldering garbage.

Plumes of smoke wafted over the city for months before firefighters finally doused the firein September.

When the city first bought the burn box, the plan was to use it only when the wind was blowing away from the city,towards FrobisherBay. But then the cardboard started to pile up again, andthatplan was tossed on the heap.

"We're now under the directive that we're going to be burning regardless of wind direction," says Jeff MacMunn, foreman at the landfill site.

The burn box is now in use13 hours a day, according to the city.MacMunn says the unit isespecially smoky these daysbecause a lot of the materialissoggy.

"The cardboard pack is full of snow, so we weren't achieving a really great burn," says MacMunn."It'll take time but we are moving forward."

Not everyoneis convinced the burn box is worth the effort.

"When it's burning in town all the time when the wind is there, we could smell it," says Fortin,"it was horrible."

"I don't think that burning stuff is the good solution here anyway."