Summerside finally buries huge pile of Dorian tree debris

A massive pile of tree debris from post-tropical storm Dorian has been buried in Summerside after warm weather sparked concerns over a potential fire risk.

And the city has learned some lessons it intends to heed after the next big storm.

Following the storm, residents were asked to bring the wreckage to a drop-off site near the wind farms — where the pile grew and grew.

"It was approximately 20 to 25 feet high — about the size of a soccer field," said Greg Gaudet, director of municipal services for the city.

For six months, the city reached out to several vendors in an effort to have the wood repurposed. But according to Gaudet, there were problems with the materials being dirty and the groups worried it would wreck their equipment.

"I think it has to be managed a bit better the next time," he said.

Gaudet said the city also considered burning the pile. However due to its size, he said fire officials didn't think that was the right choice.

"As the season went on and the dryness, we were very fearful in the city, and the fire chief as well, that we could have had some uncontrolled fire started in the brush," said Gaudet.

"At the end of the day, the only thing left was to bury it."

A lesson learned

It took about four weeks and $20,000 to dig the hole and cover the debris with soil, he said. They also had to ensure that elm wood was properly separated out because of the threat of elm bark beetles.

"The hurricane kind of caught us off guard a little bit, but next time we'll have a better plan in place."

Gaudet said the city had only one person monitoring the site. In the future, Summerside will have additional people and more equipment.

"I think what the City of Summerside has learned is that the next time we get into those events is to really treat the material as it's being deposited by the public — and keep it clean so it can be used later." said Gaudet.

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