Fire crews called out to landfill late Tuesday night

CHARLIE LAKE, B.C. – Fire crews from the Fort St. John Fire Department and Charlie Lake Fire Department battled a fire at the Peace River Regional District Landfill late Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

According to FSJFD Chief Darrell Blades, the call came in just before midnight on Tuesday, June 29th.

The department had four trucks and two duty chiefs on scene. The Charlie Lake Fire Department was also called in and arrived with two water tender trucks and a duty chief.

Regarding the cause of the fire, Blades says it will most likely be an undetermined fire. Due to the heavy equipment and digging up the fire, the ignition pointer or the cause of the fire will most likely not be discovered.

Blades also wants to thank ATCO Two Rivers, as the department was able to shuttle water from the Site C camp water systems.

“There’s no water supply out by the landfill, so the closest one was Site C, and we were able to use their hydrant system that they have for the camp,” says Blades.

Crews were on scene until around 3:40 a.m. when they turned the property back over to the contractor, where they will maintain a 72-hour fire watch and dig up areas of the landfill that is still smouldering and apply water.