City blames hot ashes for flaming garbage load

Discarded hot ashes are the suspected cause of a fire that ignited garbage in a truck bound for Yellowknife’s dump earlier this month, City Hall says.

The City of Yellowknife says a photo it circulated on Monday shows a garbage load on fire while being unloaded from a truck at the solid waste facility on February 3.

“Disposal of ashes in garbage bins can cause serious issues,” the city said in a statement.

The city said hot ash thrown in a bin was the “suspected cause” of this fire, drawing a parallel between this incident and one last summer in which improperly discarded batteries caused a separate dump fire.

“Our staff and crews quickly controlled these fires,” the city stated on Monday, before later clarifying that contractor Kavanaugh’s staff were those who extinguished the flames.

“We remind residents that it is extremely important that ashes, batteries and other hazardous waste are properly sorted, separated from all household waste, and properly disposed of,” the city’s statement added.

The date given by the city for the garbage fire predates industrial action by municipal workers that began last week. Garbage collection is operated by Kavanaugh on the city’s behalf and is continuing during the ongoing strike action.