IQALUIT, Nunavut - The city of Iqaluit will cough up the cash to douse a long-smouldering dump fire that has released acrid smoke into the northern skies for months.
City council made the decision after a letter from the government of Nunavut that said it wouldn't pay the $2.2-million cost of fighting the fire dubbed the "dumpcano."
Coun. Stephen Mansell said $500,000 is to come immediately from city reserves.
Another $1.5 million is to be advanced to Iqaluit from money it would have received from the territory anyway.
Action on dousing the smoky, acrid blaze is to begin in about two weeks and it's expected it will take another three weeks to put out.
Mansell said the city has plans to build a modern landfill to prevent its short Arctic summer from being tainted by weeks of smoky, hazardous haze.
