*This story has been updated
A Burnaby Heights resident is feeling frustrated tonight after spotting a huge pile of asbestos in her back alley.
Photos from the Twitter account @mondeeredman tweeted out at around 1:26 p.m. today (Monday) about the stacks of yellow bags in an alley between Eton Street and Cambridge Street, in the 4100 block. The bags have been sealed, but are blocking the entire alley so no vehicles can get by.
Redman contacted the City of Burnaby right after she spotted the bags, but it wasn't until later in the evening when action started to happen.
Asbestos is a highly toxic material that has been banned from use in many jurisdictions around the world because of its dangers, including causing cancer.
*At 9 p.m. the Burnaby Fire Department showed up on the scene, according to Redman.
Apparently, this isn't the first time asbestos has been dumped in this alley, said Redman.
"Per Fire Dept there was asbestos dumped her yesterday," Redman tweeted. "This is the second #Burnaby asbestos pile! Yesterday they spoke to the guy working on the house in my 1st tweet. It wasn't him. Odd and evil."
Frefighters were "guarding" the pile for a while, Redman told the NOW. An RCMP officer showed up on the scene at 9:30 p.m. to keep watch on it.
After 10 p.m., a City of Burnaby vehicle arrived and a worker erected a barricade all around the pile, which was then taped together. The worker told the residents assembled that the city doesn't have the equipment to dispose of the asbestos and so a contractor, Phoenix Restorations, has been hired to take over the disposal.
Phoenix workers showed up at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and are cleaning up the site.
"This is just criminal," said a resident who was out walking his dog. "Why pick on us."
Redman said the alley was a weird place to dump the construction waste because it's so visible.
"There are bushes just down the street," she said. "It just doesn't make sense."
