The Alberta government is promising to release air quality data for smoke that has been spreading in southern Calgary from a stubborn landfill fire.
The fire has been smouldering in piles of material at the ECCO Recycling landfill for more than a week, with smoke drifting into nearby neighbourhoods and worrying residents about the kinds of fumes they’re inhaling.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas co-signed a letter with Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward asking the province on Friday to publicly release detailed air quality data.
The office for Grant Hunter, Alberta’s environment minister, said Monday it would be publicly releasing that data as soon as possible.
Brett Poland said he brought his one-year-old daughter to hospital on Monday, because her asthma had flared up.
He has no proof her asthma was triggered by the smoke, he said, but necessary emergency room visits for the child have only happened twice before, when she was sick with a cold or flu.
Before starting to see the effects of the fire, Poland added, he didn’t realize the landfill existed.
Now, his family of five can smell burnt plastic from his home in the Acadia neighbourhood, about three kilometres northwest from the landfill, even when they don’t see much smoke.
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He spent about $1,000 on a handful of air purifiers on Saturday, including one for his daughter’s room, but that didn’t appear to help manage her asthma symptoms.
He said an emergency room doctor told them to leave the area, if possible. He’s still working through a plan and is considering relocating with his with family in Okotoks, a town south of Calgary.
Poland said he wrote to provincial and municipal politicians, including Premier Danielle Smith and the environment minister. He’s happy to hear they plan to release more details.
“It’s not just the air quality. It’s what’s in that air,” Poland said. “That’s sort of what I’m concerned about, is long-term health concerns for anyone that is breathing that stuff in right now.”
The fire department said it was called to the blaze Sept. 6 and had it under control the following day.
The department released a health advisory Friday warning of eye, nose and throat irritation or coughing and headaches for those breathing in the fumes.
On Sunday, it said the fire was smouldering deep within the material of the landfill but that it wasn’t clear what was burning inside.
The department also said crews were smothering the burning material with dirt and water but that landfill fires can take a considerable amount of time to fully extinguish.
The liberal landfill = dumpster fire.