City and county workers and volunteer firefighters from several departments worked several days to douse a fire which began Monday afternoon, Jan. 16, at the New Albany Sanitary Landfill on Patrobas Road off CR 75, Mayor Tim Kent and Union County EMA Director Curt Clayton said this week.
No injuries were reported.
Fires at the facility are rare, the mayor said.
“I’ve been mayor 18 years, and this is the first time I can recall something like this happening,” he said.
Clayton said city and county workers used two bulldozers, two trackhoes, 100,000 gallons of water and 70 gallons of foam chemical to douse the fire, which was reduced to a few isolated pockets by Wednesday night.
By Thursday the fire was completely put out to DEQ (federal Department of Environmental Quality) approval, he said.
The city hired the two trackhoes to do the work. The county provided one bulldozer and the other one was already at the landfill, Clayton said.
New Albany firefighters were not at the scene, due to being at the scene of a 18-wheeler wreck at the Highway 15-I-22 intersection.
Volunteer firefighters from Center, Northeast, North Haven, Myrtle, and Southeast were at the landfill.
Mayor Kent said the fire covered about five acres of the sprawling 60 acre facility.
He said hot sawdust is believed to have triggered the blaze.
“Industries dump hot sawdust there on a regular basis, and our best guess is that may have started the fire,” he said.
Clayton confirmed that theory: “The landfill manager told me a guy came in and dropped a load of hot sawdust with fire in it.”
Those fighting the fire had to proceed carefully, Clayton said.
“We had spotters beside each of the bulldozers and trackhoes to make sure none of the machines caught fire. None did,” he said.
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