Officials believe lightning may have sparked a fire Wednesday morning at the Hemlock Knoll Landfill in Lawrence Station, north of St. Stephen.
Hollis Bartlett, executive director of the Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission, says workers found smoke and flames coming from the landfill itself when they arrived for work around 7 a.m.
Bartlett tells us fire crews from five departments battled the blaze and were able to put it out by around 11 a.m.
“The fire departments, they responded well, they are professional, they did a great job,” says Bartlett.
“Staff responded appropriately, there wasn’t any panic, there was no lost equipment or any monetary loss.”
#HVFD on-scene mutual aid fire call with Oak Bay, Moore’s Mills and Lawrence Station at Southwest Regional Landfill pic.twitter.com/Aw6hLuPXoJ
— HVFD (@HarveyFireDept) July 11, 2018
Bartlett says it’s not uncommon to have fires in the landfill, adding they can often be stubborn.
“Usually we can contain them ourselves, but we’re taking a little stricter protocol where we do call fire departments a little earlier than we have in the past, just to make sure things don’t get out of hand,” he says.
Bartlett says no one was hurt in the fire.
(Photos submitted)
