Cold weather hinders firefighting efforts at Whitewood landfill

Members of the Whitewood Fire Department were forced to work in especially harsh conditions on Friday after a fire broke out at the community's landfill. (Source: Facebook/Whitewood Fire Department)

Firefighters in the community of Whitewood had an especially hard fight earlier this week due to frigid temperatures.

According to a post from the Whitewood Fire Department on Saturday, the members were called to the community’s landfill at 6:15 p.m. on Friday, where a large hill of garbage had ignited.

Fire crews battled -35 C and the frozen water lines and equipment that resulted from it. Those at the scene battled the blaze for seven and a half hours, according to the fire department.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Additionally, mutual aid from three other departments was held back due to the cold temperatures.

The flames were ultimately quelled with the help of landfill employees who used three bulldozers, a track hoe and a dump truck to spread out the garbage and dump dirt on the fire.

Using two fire trucks in rotation, crews were finally able to contain the flames at around 1:50 a.m. on Saturday.

“Huge thank you to all our firefighters for their dedication in such extreme conditions and the employees of Whitewood Landfill for their assistance all night as well,” the post read. “These types of calls are tough not only our equipment but also on our volunteer firefighters who continue to show up even in tough, unideal conditions.”