We arrived this afternoon at 1:40pm. The flights worked out well -- for anyone ever heading this way -- First Air serves HOT MEALS, I haven't had a hot meal on a plane for so long I can't remember when! All our boxes arrived without a hiccup. It was a relief for me because I needed to identify some as 'excess' when we checked in, it was hard to say what I was OK to go without and once I had I regretted it. Jim even brought his guitar and it was the first thing unloaded -- not a scratch...
We met the crew from Cambridge Bay at the airport, very friendly! They saw Dwayne's jacket and introduced themselves to us. Mike said we have representation from the two most northern communities in Nunavut in our course... Gjoa Haven and Resolute Bay.
Arnie, the Utility Foreman for Rankin Inlet picked us up at the airport, took us to the hotel, then the fire hall (where the training will take place) and then on a guided tour of the whole town -- including the landfill, of course.
Ambrose is the fire chief and he has offered to make us coffee and bring in cookies each morning. Although he was a bit surprised by our arrival, he didn't hesitate and was ready to accomodate anything we needed. The room will be perfect -- it's spacious and equipped with everything we need.
The town of Rankin has over 2000 people and 847 vehicles. Many people use all terrain vehicles or snowmobiles as their primary means of transportation. It seems weird for snowmobiles to plow along the main street amongst the cars... but why not?
The town has an underground utilidor serving water to a large section of the community. Unlike Iqaluit, Rankin has a little more topsoil, gravel and crushed rock around. The utilidor is contructed from a material that has some flexibility in order to deal with shifts in the permafrost.
Tomorrow we will be talking about the landfill in each of the communities attending (12) and touring Rankin's landfill with the participants. I can't wait to hear more about the conditions everyone faces.
More tomorrow...
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