Iqaluit dump fire officially out

A fire that had been burning at the Iqaluit landfill for over a month has finally been put out, according to fire officials.

The fire, which began Sept. 24 in a large mound of construction material, was fully extinguished on Thursday morning, the Iqaluit fire department told CBC News.

Firefighters had spent the last 36 days battling the fire, using upward of three million litres of water.

"The crew here are pretty glad that it's done with," fire department Capt. Walter Oliver told CBC News Thursday afternoon.

"They were getting kind of a bit fed up with it — it was a pretty mundane job … they're glad it's behind them."

Potentially toxic smoke from the dump fire had lingered around Iqaluit and nearby Apex, causing schools to close on several occasions. Nunavut government offices even shut down for part of one afternoon earlier this month, amid health concerns related to the smoke.

Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik said the landfill fire has brought Iqaluit's waste management issues to the forefront.

"It's become very visual, how much volume we produce," Sheutiapik told CBC News earlier this week. "Our solid waste really should be urgently dealt with in an urgent manner."

Oliver said the City of Iqaluit has work to do if it wants to prevent a similar landfill fire from happening. For example, he said garbage should not be piled in such steep, high mounds.