After thick plumes of smoke from last week’s massive blaze at the New Providence Landfill spread affecting other communities yesterday, Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney said this is just the effect of the government’s initial neglect.

He reiterated that this dilemma is a complete disruption of daily living.

As the government has just announced that it has recently contracted US Company GELTECH Solutions to assist in extinguishing the fire, Mr. McCartney said while he hopes this process is successful, more individuals are becoming sick.

“Around 3:30 this morning my family and I had to leave our home because of the smoke. Where I live, even when there is a black out, you can see a well lit Baha Mar. Last night, and early this morning because of the dump we were unable to see Baha Mar and that tells how thick that smoke was. No doubt, there’s been a complete disruption of daily living,” he said.

“I have been affected, and will be going to the doctor. My throat and head are aching,” said Mr. McCartney.

“I understand that the government has hired a company from the United States to fly over and place certain material on the dump. I don’t know if it’s going to be successful, but I do hope that it is,” he added.

“I know the government has to do something ASAP to bring that smoke under control. I can’t imagine what those residents in Jubilee Gardens are experiencing. I’m now experiencing some of it. I can’t imagine this going on much longer,” Mr. McCartney said.

Reiterating what he thinks is the overall solution to the ongoing dump problem Mr. McCartney said it calls for a full remediation of the landfill.

“The remedy for that dump is to start the process of remediation, making that site a site that’s waste energy. That’s something that we’ve been speaking about some time ago as the DNA and from a personal point of view I’ve been speaking on it for many, many years,” the DNA leader said.

“This is getting worse and worse every year. If we don’t remedy the situation, next year we will feel the same effects, but to a worse degree,” said Mr. McCartney.

Initially officials announced that it would take five to seven days for the fire issue to be resolved.

However it is still unclear when displaced families can officially return home.