A primary school was forced to close yesterday after choking smoke from the Marsh Folly fire poured into the building.

Victor Scott Primary principal Gina Tucker said staff and students were complaining of itching eyes and burning sensations, and there was concern for children suffering from asthma.

Dr. Tucker said the decision was taken to close the school at about 10 a.m. and the process took about 45 minutes.

Despite being just yards from the burning pile which erupted on Wednesday, the school had remained open last week but wind directions made it impossible to continue with teaching yesterday.

Parent Teachers Association president Carol-Ann Spencer, who has an eight-year-old daughter at the school, said it had been wise to close.

She said: “Some people were choking in classes.”

Although the affects of smoke are still being at least mildly felt in neighbouring communities, Minister of Public Safety Sen. David Burch said yesterday: “We are starting to see sunlight at the end of the tunnel in terms of extinguishing the blaze.”

The Minister said the weekend’s rain had been one of the main contributing factors to the progress they’ve experienced.

This marks the seventh consecutive day of a massive horticultural waste fire at the Pembroke Dump.

Yesterday, a piece of excavating machinery could be seen on top of the considerably reduced waste heap which was once as tall as eight storeys, according to some estimates.

Fire officials instituted the aggressive strategy after getting much-needed equipment from private contractors.

The equipment is being used in an innovative assembly line that may ultimately put the fire out.

Chief Fire Officer Vincent Hollinsid said: “When a portion of the pile is removed, it is placed in a purposely built dam of water in an effort to cool and extinguish burning embers. It is then removed from the dam of water and placed in other designated areas.”

He said he thought the fire would be out in “the next few days”.

After briefing the media on progress yesterday, Mr. Hollinsid was asked if he ever warned Government officials that the abnormally large horticultural heap was a fire hazard.

He conceded that he made no specific mention of the fire danger to the Ministry of Works and Engineering, but said if the heap was 30 feet or 70 feet it posed the same potential for combustion.

Fire crews continue 12-hour shifts with the assistance of the Bermuda Regiment, the St. George’s Fire Brigade and the Bermuda Police Service.

Twenty Regiment volunteers joined the efforts Friday evening — two teams of ten personnel have been working 12-hour shifts just as firefighters have.

Meantime, Government officials hired Bermuda Water Consultants over the weekend to conduct water and air quality tests.

On Friday there were eight samples taken around the Pembroke Dump and another nine were taken on Saturday.

Sen. Burch said: “Analysis will take a few days for some of the results and others have to be sent overseas and they will take about ten days.

“The results of both of these tests will be revealed when they are available.”

He also reminded members of the public who think they need assistance or financial relief from the fire to register their needs with the Works and Engineering Hotline 297-7842.