Driving in to western New Providence yesterday you couldn't miss the fire at the landfill. Firefighters are doing what they can but it's been burning for days.
Travelling along the airport road near Lake Cunningham you could see the trajectory of the smoke. It was wafting toward the upper-class homes of the Skyline Drive community. It was blowing near Baha Mar, the billion-dollar resort many hope will rescue the Bahamian economy.
The landfill was formerly under the control of the government. It was poorly conceived and inadequately managed. We became used to fires at it from time to time. The reasons given for them then were spontaneous combustion or arson. The government handed over control of the site to Renew Bahamas last year.
This time the company that now manages the landfill said it was arson. The fire started shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday.
"We believe this latest incident indicates a concentrated arson attack on the site and facilities, as our sources and surveillance indicate individuals entered the landfill after sunset and deliberately started the fire," the company said.
Fire chief Walter Evans pledged their full effort to end the blaze.
"We have advised the public at large, for those who have any respiratory challenges, because of the smoke to seek medical help," he said.
"We are going to do all we can to ensure that, that fire is extinguished in the shortest possible time."
Whether it was arson or not, the same problem persists. The landfill keeps burning every few months. It is a serious health hazard to those who live in the area. And due to its close proximity to the Cable Beach strip, it is also a hazard to hotel guests at Baha Mar. Who wants to spend thousands of dollars to come to The Bahamas and inhale dump smoke?
We have become too used to dump fires. Some of the worst of these cover large portions of the island. We recall smoke from one fire even blanketing Paradise Island in noxious odor.
Now that the government is out of the dump management business it falls on Renew to solve this problem. If arson is really to blame the company should enhance security at the site.
Too much is at stake for dump fires to remain the norm. We compromise the health of our citizens. We compromise our economic well-being. A raging dump fire blanketing Baha Mar for days could empty the resort with visitors vowing not to return. We don't want that.

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