A landfill in southeast Calgary could continue to burn for weeks or even months, says the city’s fire rescue services chief, as the city seeks an injunction against the company operating the site to stop its “unlawful” storage of materials.
The city will also send Ecco Recycling, the company at the heart of the fire, a bill for efforts to extinguish the blaze at its facility, although the fire chief hasn’t provided an estimate yet.
“This is literally a mountain of garbage with deep pockets of active fire,” said CFD Chief Steve Dongworth at a news conference on Wednesday. He added that the size of the landfill has complicated firefighters’ efforts.
“The steep, mountainous face of this fire makes access for crews and trucks particularly challenging.”
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Dongworth said the fire hasn’t been doused, despite bringing it under control.
“Fire activity remains confined to the landfill site, and significant progress has been made over the past week,” he added.
“Although we should be able to control smoke from the fire in the coming days, this incident could last weeks or even months until on-site fire risk is fully mitigated.”
Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth gave an update to media regarding the ongoing fire smouldering at the Ecco landfill in southeast Calgary on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.
Dongworth said the city is working with experienced private contractors, although he didn’t name any companies.
“We’re confident we’re taking the right steps in the right order with the right resources at this time, and we believe we’ll have representatives from that firm on site here in the next couple of days again to validate our approach.”
Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward said he was surprised to see the scale of the operation.
“The efficiency of the operation is what I would describe as optimized to the absolute maximum,” Ward said. “Access to this site is very difficult and very limited, so simply adding more resources, from what I can see, actually wouldn’t expedite things. It would actually slow it down.”
Dongworth also said the city will offload the costs of fighting the blaze on the recycling company.
“I would estimate it will be very significant,” he said. “We’re nowhere near done yet. We’re tracking the costs.”
Calgary Ward 11 Coun. Rob Ward gave an update to media regarding the ongoing fire smouldering at the Ecco landfill in southeast Calgary on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.
Court ruling against Ecco Recycling
The efforts come as a Court of King’s Bench Justice has ruled in favour of the city in its injunction application against Ecco Recycling.
The 19-page ruling issued last Friday by Justice James T. Eamon found that the company “flouted” the city’s land-use bylaw by storing dry waste material at its recycling facility off 24th Street S.E., in Calgary’s Shepard industrial area. The cause of the recent fire, however, hasn’t been determined yet.
“The only reasonable conclusion from the evidence is that Ecco willingly refused to comply with the stop order, the (development permit), the land-use bylaw and the MGA relating to the use of the Ecco site for waste accumulation and storage and, in fact, flouted these requirements for a significant period of time,” Eamon wrote.
Ecco stated late Monday afternoon that they would abide by the order.
“Ecco Recycling and Energy Corp. will comply with Justice Eamon’s order,” wrote Alec McDougall, president of Ecco.
“We are continuing to provide 24-hour support and full cooperation with the Calgary Fire Department and other agencies working to extinguish the fire at the former landfill site.”
Meanwhile, the Court of King’s Bench justice also denied the city’s request to impose daily penalties and to lock Ecco out of its premises.
“The city can apply for such remedies in the event Ecco refuses to comply with this injunction,” Eamon wrote.
A still image taken from drone footage of the Ecco plant location in southeast Calgary on May 29, 2026. Other supplied footage appears to show material from the main pile is being relocated to another part of Ecco’s site and possibly not all being trucked to another different site.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas noted the city has been pursuing separate legal action against Ecco for “an extended period of time,” regarding its operating practices long preceding the current fire.
The issue drew attention this spring when area residents complained about a large wall of garbage that was beginning to grow at the site.
Ecco officials said at the time that the company would remove the waste pile by the end of May. On June 1, McDougall said the pile had been reduced by 50 per cent, with around 40 truckloads per day carrying material away from the site.
But drone footage obtained by Postmedia appeared to dispute that, showing trucks moving the waste from one area of the facility to another.
Air quality concerns for communities downwind of fire
The fire has also raised safety concerns for nearby residents.
Environment and Protected Areas Minister Grant Hunter’s office stated that air quality data has indicated particulate matter readings (PM 2.5) that exceed normal amounts have occurred intermittently rather than continuously, with some periods reaching concentrations comparable to the high-risk category of the Air Quality Health Index — the same measurement used when wildfire smoke is prevalent.
“Elevated concentrations have generally been localized and influenced by changing plume and wind conditions,” his office stated, adding that no other exceedances of health-based thresholds have been identified to date.
Smoke continues to rise from a fire at a private landfill in southeast Calgary Friday, Sept. 11, 2026.
The same data suggested a low overall risk to health for the general Calgary population. The greatest potential for exposure has been in the communities directly downwind of the fire during periods of elevated smoke concentrations.
“Health and environmental partners continue to review air quality monitor data and assess potential health impacts.
“Individuals with underlying heart or lung conditions, older adults, young children and pregnant individuals may experience temporary symptoms such as eye or throat irritation, cough or worsening of existing respiratory conditions.”
— With files from Scott Strasser
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