From terrified dogs to vibrating beds, the "noisy but essential'' tests at the Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Facility in Devonshire have turned into a 24-hour ordeal for many of the area's residents.

"It is a bit like being at the end of a runway while an aeroplane is taking off,'' said North Shore Road homeowner Mr. Colin Williams of the noise that emanates from the incinerator three or four times a day.

Mr. Williams who lives just a few hundred feet from the newly opened facility.

Like many of his neighbours on that scenic stretch of roadway, he has recently had to endure a series of high-decibel "steam operations'' that are part of the incinerator's testing programme.

Started in May and continuing this month, the tests were supposed to be no longer than 15 minutes each, according to a notice that was sent to only some of area residents last month.

But while the tests may have stuck to their original schedule when they began, the more recent "steamings'' have been considerably longer than 15 minutes, numerous residents complained.

"It really annoys me during the day,'' said one North Shore Road man who didn't give his name.

"They're a blasted pain,'' said a woman who lived in the same house. Mrs.

Natalie Shaw, whose hillside home on Lookout Lane lies even closer to the incinerator than those on North Shore Road, said the noise made her feel as if she were in the eye of a storm.

"The first time I heard it I thought of Hurricane Emily,'' she said. "It surrounded the house.'' According to residents, the noise can send area dogs into a frenzy, though some pet owners were warned about this in the May notice.

What residents were not warned about, however, was the noticeable vibration Mrs. Shaw said she has experienced.

"I felt a terrible vibration at the end of May,'' she said. "I was lying in the bed and my bed starts shaking. I don't know what they were burning (at that time of night).'' Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons said he was "not aware'' of the vibration, humming or constant drone that many of the residents complained of to The Royal Gazette . He also said the tests were longer than their anticipated 15 minutes because of a "slight (particle emission) problem'' with the second boiler.

"We do apologise'' for the noise, he said. "The problem is being corrected.'' Even more disturbing to residents than the noise, however, is the irreversible turn for the worse they feel their neighbourhood has taken.

In addition to concern about drinking water, which some fear may be exposed to dangerous or unhealthy emissions, many believe the incinerator has blighted a once beautiful area that remains highly visible to cruise ship passengers sailing along the North Shore and to visitors coming into Hamilton from the Airport.

"Why they had to put it here I'll never know,'' said Mrs. Shaw.

Area residents are also fed up with the closure of North Shore Road between Barker's Hill and Dock Hill.

One stretch of the road was closed in December for the laying of pipes at the incinerator. A second section just east of Dock Hill was closed in May for repairs to Devonshire Dock and may remain so until the end of the summer, residents said they were told.

Some residents have said it was the movement of heavy machinery to the incinerator site that caused the dock to collapse in the first place.

"What more are they going to dump on Devonshire?'' asked Mrs. Elizabeth Every, a clerk at nearby Empire Grocery.