Thick gray clouds still consumed a street in a Jubilee Gardens community where one resident told The Journal she and several others have now decided to take matters into their own hands and that is to have the New Providence Landfill completely removed.

Melissa Allen-Maynard says she made the decision after she, her husband and children fought a fire in her backyard for more than four hours.

“We want to say to our government and to the former government this has nothing to do with politics, this is our lives,” she said.

“We are not agitating to have anyone to come to that dump to man in or maintain it; we are agitation to have the dump removed completely. This has been affecting us for the last 20 odd years.”

Mrs. Allen-Maynard says there is nothing more the residents can take.

“We know that Renew Bahamas is no longer responsible for the dump, we need to know sir [Minister of Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett] what is the plan of action?” she asked.

“These residents and everybody in Jubilee Gardens are prepared to take action for our lives and our children’s lives.”

When the Journal spoke with Mrs. Allen-Maynard she said she had been collecting signatures for less than an hour and had already received 40 plus signatures from residents.

Meantime, other residents took the time to commended Tall Pines Member of Parliament (MP) Leslie Miller and members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) for their assistance on Sunday.

“I must say he did a very good job, he was here all yesterday and even offered up his place for a shelter,” resident Janet Butler said.

“The officers were around here cutting off tanks, and they cut mind off after they told us to evacuate. They were working very hard,” said another.