By Rashad Rolle

Tribune staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 1,200 people have received some form of assistance from the Ministry of Social Services in the wake of the ongoing fire at the city dump.

According to officials, as of Sunday, about 300 heads of households from Jubilee Gardens and surrounding areas had sought assistance and participated in the ministry’s registration process. There are an estimated 600 homes in the area.

In all, 875 adults and 393 children were able to receive assistance as a result of the registration process as of Sunday, according to a release from Bahamas Information Services yesterday.

As residents around New Providence continue to complain about lingering, toxic smoke emanating from the burning New Providence Landfill, where a massive blaze broke out nine days ago, several schools closed early yesterday and inclement weather forced a delay in the air drops of fire extinguishing material on the fire.

While residents in the nearby Tall Pines constituency bore the brunt of the smoke initially, in recent days those across eastern and central areas of New Providence have complained of unbearable conditions and acrid smoke caused by the ongoing blaze. Yesterday, St John’s College and Eva Hilton Primary School in the Stapleton area, and others, closed early because of the smoke.

Lillian Quant-Forbes, senior deputy director at the Department of Social Services, said that many of the residents who had sought assistance would have received an emergency food coupon. “(It) would have assisted them with purchasing some personal items, because many of the food items would have been affected in the homes because of the smoke - in addition to other forms of assistance,” she said.

“Of the 301 heads of household registering at the Command Centre, we were able to accommodate 41 families consisting of 162 persons at nine hotel/motel establishments here in New Providence. The Church of God of Prophecy also made their facilities available for use for persons needing temporary housing accommodations,” Mrs Quant-Forbes added.

She said information gathered at the Command Centre also allowed Social Services officials to collaborate with public health officials in securing medical assistance for those residents in need of medical attention.

“There were a number of residents who live in the areas who would have indicated that they were experiencing some challenges with upper respiratory issues, and so those were the persons we tried to not only seek medical attention for right away, but to also seek – in the initial stages – to relocate to other temporary accommodations,” Mrs Quant-Forbes said.

On March 5, a massive blaze broke out at the Harrold Road landfill site, blanketing nearby communities, and in particular Jubilee Gardens, in thick, black hazardous smoke and forcing residents in that community to evacuate their homes.

On Monday, Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett said GelTech Solutions, a company that specialises in fighting fires while protecting the environment, has been contracted by the government to assist in extinguishing the massive blaze. He told The Tribune the US-based company, along with Fletcher Air, began dropping FireIce - a firefighting gel - on the sites at the landfill on Sunday, that were either too dangerous or unreachable by firefighters.

Yesterday morning, Mr Dorsett said the inclement weather had not done much to help tackle the fire but did contribute to rising smoke.

“Whether or not (the rainy weather) helped I’d prefer to say yes and no,” he told reporters. “It didn’t come in sufficient quantities and for a length of time to make a significant impact. But what it did do is cause a lot of steam to rise, so now smoke. It has put it out in some pockets, but the smoke is now very high so when the sun comes out the smoke which you now see shifting toward the north should dissipate and we should be able to make an assessment.

“As a result of the rain and the smoke, we have not been able to begin our air drops for the aircraft to date because visibility at the landfill is a challenge,” he said yesterday morning.

Mr Dorsett also said “80 per cent of the ridge that was still burning is now out” because of air drops.

“A small pocket on the ridge was still lit. They were going to put it out last night (Monday) but air traffic control told us to discontinue the last take off because we were nearing sunset. We had hoped to complete that early this morning but with the rain it seems as though it’s out, so the air drops should be able to focus on different areas today to be able to cool the ground so the team on the ground moving the fill to cover would be able to move at a faster pace,” Mr Dorsett said.

The airborne exercise will cost the government under $80,000 and is expected to continue over the next few days.

Last Wednesday, Mr Dorsett said there is no definite date set for when Jubilee Gardens residents will be able to return to their homes. Initially, officials said residents would have to wait five to seven days. Social workers will remain at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gym until 6pm daily until officials give the “all clear” for residents of Jubilee Gardens to return to their homes.