KENTVILLE, N.S. — Crews are fighting a fire at a Nova Scotia garbage site that contains a massive pile of construction debris several stories high.
Ryan MacEachern, chief of the Kentville Volunteer Fire Dept., says they are hoping to bring in excavators to knock down the towering mound of garbage and then cover it with sand.
He says the fire is at the core of the pile, which measures up to 90 metres high and wide, so firefighters are trying to peel away the layers and get to the heart of the blaze.
The garbage contains plastic debris, which is fouling the air and residents near the North River Road site have been told to keep their windows closed.
Crews are also trying to contain water being used to fight the fire to prevent leaching of toxins into the soil and any nearby waterways.
MacEachern says the blaze started Tuesday and has involved more than 150 firefighters, one of whom suffered a serious knee injury when he fell near the debris pile.