Quarry fire in St-Lazare still burning five days later

Pile of debris burns for days in Saint-Lazare, Que. A pile of debris at a quarry burned for five days, even with fire crews working around the clock to extinguish it.

You won’t see flames, but there’s still smoke emanating from a burning pile of debris at the Chevrier et Fils Sand Quarry in Saint-Lazare.

The fire was first reported on Sunday and five days later, fire crews from Saint-Lazare and the surrounding communities have been working around the clock to extinguish the blaze.

Fire Department Director Alain Deguire said the cause of the fire was likely spontaneous combustion, something that can happen when decaying vegetation such as trees, roots and stumps are piled on top of one another.

“It's been piled up to 30 feet high,” he said. “And we know that organic material, by itself can start heating some things, with the climate conditions that we have.”

Extinguishing the fire has been complicated by the cold weather, he added.

They haven’t been able to get to the source of the fire yet since heavy machines must dismantle the pile piece by piece while crews’ hose down the debris and bury it in the sand.

The vast quantities of water have started to freeze making that work more difficult.

The quarry is located in the middle of a residential neighbourhood, and for the past week residents have been advised by the city to keep their windows closed.

Saint-Lazare Mayor Genevieve Lachance says that while the smell is bad and there have been complaints, the air quality is being tested on a regular basis by public health.

“Everything is under control, it's not health-wise, dangerous to them at this point,” she said adding that the smoke has improved over the last few days.

The quarry is under the jurisdiction of the province, not the city, and she said the owners have been cooperating and meeting regularly with officials to go over the operation.

Firefighters have also been going door to door in the affected areas to answer questions people may have about the fire.

However, they still can’t give an estimate for how long it will take to bring it fully under control.