EXTINGUISHING THE DELTA SHAKE AND SHINGLE LANDFILL FIRE 

Declaring a Local State of Emergency
As can be seen in photo3, over the course of the next few days the fire continued to escalate in intensity. Fearing a serious environmental emergency, on November 25th the British Columbia Fire Commissioner ordered Delta Shake and Shingle to extinguish the fire following SHA's plan. However due to large anticipated cost of extinguishment, the company chose to ignore the order. 

Bt this time smoke from the plume was starting to pose a health hazard to adjacent business, a thick haze was developing over much of Delta, the potential spread of the fire into the main landfill posed a serious threat to the B.C. Gas pipeline and leachate from the fire fight was starting to impact the environment. For these reasons the B.C. Fire Commissioner determined that the fire was posing a serious threat to life and property and ordered the Delta Fire Department to extinguish the landfill fire on November 27th, 1999. A commitment to fund the firefight was provided by the B.C. Provincial Emergency Program (PEP). To secure access onto adjacent private properties, some of the owners were less than co-operative, a Local State of Emergency was declared by the mayor of the Corporation of Delta. By November 27th, much of the horseshoe was in flames and a thick plume of smoke was rising into the skies.

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