Fond Cole and Stockfarm residents demand action by authorities after landfill fire

“Enough is enough, for too long we have been treated like the same garbage that is affecting us. It’s time to relocate the landfill.” Those were the words of one female resident from the community of Fond Cole who spoke to Dominica News Online (DNO) on Monday.

Her comments came following a fire that occurred at the Fond Cole Sanitary Landfill on June 30 that affected several residents of that community and its surroundings.

The resident, who chose to remain anonymous, called on the relevant authorities to put the necessary plans in place to address this situation.

“To breathe in that smell on a daily basis is already too much, now we have to deal with more fires,” she remarked. “This is not the first time that fires have gotten out of control at the landfill. I believe there have been over four fires over the years. When will it stop?”

She continued, “This is enough to cause health issues.”

She said Fond Cole has often been marginalized and sidelined as a poor community from which nothing good can come.

“I guess this is why we are being treated that way,”  she remarked. “Do something and do something now…The smoke, the smell, we can no longer tolerate.”

Another female resident of Fond Cole, who also chose to remain anonymous, expressed her disappointment.

“Where the landfill is located presently is not in the right place,” she remarked. “A place where rubbish is stored and burnt should not be anywhere close to a residential area. This is wrong on all levels, and we, the people of Fond Cole are fed up!”

She added, “There are a lot of people living close to that area, and this is not good for anyone’s health. The smoke affected workers on the port as well.”

A male resident of Stock Farm who chose to remain anonymous told DNO that he blames the government for not doing enough to address the concerns continuously raised by the people of the Roseau North.

“About that landfill situation, I believe the government isn’t doing enough. I feel they are taking the situation for granted,” he argued. “Right now, we are in summer, and most children are at home while adults are at work. Just imagine the fire getting out of hand and [starting to spread] past the prison into the homes. What would have happened?”

“We need to take that seriously,” he stressed.

He also raised concerns over the constant smell of rubbish and rotting material.

“Do you think it’s fair?  “Let’s take. for instance, [if] the Financial Centre, which is close to the Government Headquarters, had that smell ever so often. The workers, ministers, and others would not be pleased about it, they would not accept it, and they would do things to make sure that wasn’t the case anymore.”

Another resident of Fond Cole, who is a mother of two explained that for years she and her family have been waiting for the landfill to be relocated.

“That has been a big problem for us for years, and it was said that the landfill would only be there temporarily and they would have to find another location for it, but it has been years now nothing has been done,” she explained.

As for the fires, “sometimes, depending on the location of the fire, we would be affected. But trust me, that landfill needs to be removed from there.”

She further argued that a landfill should never be placed close to a town.

“First of all, Fond Cole is close to Roseau, the capital. And to have a landfill close to your capital that doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

The Dominica Solid Waste Management Corporation (DSWMC) held a meeting with residents of Stockfarm, Yampiece, Bellevue Rawle, and other neighbouring communities on Wednesday (July 9) to discuss important matters concerning them.

During that meeting, a number of these residents called for the removal of the landfill from its present location at Fond Cole.

“How many years I am breathing in the rubbish scent, now it’s rubbish scent in smoke. I hope [you all] are smelling it. The fire stopped, the smoke stopped, but the scent is still there,” a male resident of Stockfarm expressed during the meeting.

He continued, “I don’t care who [lit] the fire, if it’s somebody by mistake, but the landfill needs to move.”

Another female resident of Stockfarm said, “We want to empathize…but again I think we are suffering in Stockfarm, we had enough and as somebody said if we have to go out there and go on the streets of Roseau to say we had enough, we will go on the streets of Roseau to say that we had enough with the police permission and we will advance.”

At a press conference held recently, the Minister for National Security, Rayburn Blackmoore, said a comprehensive investigation from both the fire department and the police is to be pursued following a fire at the Fond Cole Landfill.

“The matter is currently being investigated by the police…to look at the root cause of that fire. I don’t want to point any fingers, but anytime we have a fire, as a former investigator myself, we’re treating it as a potential arson,” he said. “So a comprehensive investigation from both the fire department and the police [is] to be pursued.”

In the meantime, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told reporters at a press conference on Monday that later this week his government plans to address the concerns of the residents of the Roseau North Constituency, regarding the negative impact which the landfill has had on their health and general well-being.