Province enters the home stretch clearing Fiona dumpsite debris
With approximately 100,000 cubic metres of Hurricane Fiona debris left to dispose of, the province is pushing to finish dumpsite clean-up by the end of the summer.
“It has basically been all hands on deck between our staff and contractors,” said Steve Szwarc.
Clean-up efforts have been ongoing since 2022 when the most intense storm to hit the Maortimes on record ripped through the province.
Approximately one million cubic metres of wood debris were deposited at 63 sites across the Island for disposal, Mr Szwarc said.
Initially the province considered sorting and chipping materials that could be turned into biomass energy via local infrastructure, but it soon became clear that would not be practical.
“The biggest thing is just the amount of debris that we had, and how quickly we realized we have to dispose of it because of the fire risk and calls from the public.”
Island infrastructure capable of turning wood chips into energy requires relatively clean chips without too much dirt or foliage. Sorting that out of the mess would have been an astronomical task, Mr Swarc said.
There are two sites in Kings County where Mr Swarc said more chipping could take place this summer. Otherwise the vast majority of the debris has been buried so it will decompose while presenting less of a wildfire hazard compared to open air heaps of brush and wood debris.
About 100,000 cubic metres dumped in Charlottetown have been chipped and hauled off Island to be used as biomass elsewhere.
Where burying hasn’t been practical some has been incinerated in large air-curtain burners which Mr Szwarc said is an environmentally friendly practice.
Rachel Collier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Graphic
