{"id":95087,"date":"2026-07-24T12:15:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/over-400-trucks-carrying-sand-helped-extinguish-the-rankin-inlet-landfill-fire-for-10-days\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T12:15:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:15:53","slug":"over-400-trucks-carrying-sand-helped-extinguish-the-rankin-inlet-landfill-fire-for-10-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2026\/07\/24\/over-400-trucks-carrying-sand-helped-extinguish-the-rankin-inlet-landfill-fire-for-10-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 400 trucks carrying sand helped extinguish the Rankin Inlet landfill fire for 10 days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Published 3:10 am Friday, July 24, 2026 Firefighter 14, Hamlet Services, Truck, more than 400 dumpsters filled with sand from Inuksuk Timber Company, and assisted by the Angiku Ikuku Quarry The fire had been burning for 10 days. After the surface was extinguished, Firefighter Mc Rayatt said the community could see smoke and be cold for weeks because the fire was buried under the dump. \u201cOff,\u201d Rayat says. You’ll still see a trail of dust sometimes because that’s when the dumpster is filled with something. There is nothing in the storage.\u201d The firefighter said that when the landfill was used for many years, it was covered with garbage, buried in the ground and burned there. \u201cThe surface is no longer on fire,\u201d he says. \u201cThe fire underneath is still burning and continuing for years.\u201d He said it is common to see smoke coming from the landfill, even in winter. \u201cWe’ll see smoke in the winter from the landfill. In the dust.\u201d Extinguishing the fire required 400 times a dump truck full of dirt, dumping it in all directions to contain the fire and stop the ventilation system, Rayat said. The fire department also fought water for five days, but its efforts did not help because of the lack of water at the dump. \u201cWe don\u2019t have Covid for firefighters,\u201d Rayat said. \u201cYou can just spray the water for two to three minutes and wait for the water tank to water the fire.\u201d Around day nine of the fire, Anjiko Ikuku a miner was brought in to help deliver water from the swamp about 1 kilometer away with 6\u201d Sulu to the dump. \u201cI was able to get the ongoing water day and Nakba, and he was able to turn it off,\u201d Rayat said. \u201cThat, together with the hamlet’s sandblasting, enabled us to accomplish our work by extinguishing the fire. \u201cIf there’s a little dust, you’ll smell it even if you don’t see it,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, the landfill, it’s been accumulating for years, about 50-70 feet (15-20 m),\u201d he says. He said that digging the garbage dump into the sand can help prevent the wind from reaching the temperature. Rayat congratulated everyone who helped in extinguishing the fire. \u201cI would like to thank the hard working people who came that night,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of work for everyone.\u201d He also recognized the applicants and the hamlet providers. \u201cThey’re tired of working in the landfill,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are working hard on this, and it has been extinguished, and it will continue to be extinguished. The cause of the fire is still under investigation and will not be considered intentional because the investigation cannot determine how it started. Ryan said it can cause a fire in any way, including metal overheating, sunglasses, batteries or overheating. He also explained that, in part, the fire could have been set deliberately. \u201cOften, some people don’t have enough to do and they start working, so let’s have a little fuel and have a fire,\u201d he says. He said that Rankin Inlet has been using the landfill fire every year for 11 years in the community. Ryan said the fire department has strengthened its partnership with Anjiko Ikuku Mining, which will enable firefighters to respond quickly to a fire at the landfill. \u201cBut if there’s no insurance, and many people go to the landfill, there’s nothing to do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Published 3:10 am Friday, July 24, 2026 Firefighter 14, Hamlet Services, Truck, more than 400 dumpsters filled with sand from Inuksuk Timber Company, and assisted by the Angiku Ikuku Quarry The fire had been burning for 10 days. After the surface was extinguished, Firefighter Mc Rayatt said the community could see smoke and be cold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":95088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,4954,1],"tags":[116,4953],"class_list":["post-95087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-nunavut","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-nunavut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}