Fire temporarily closes Grant County Landfill
Public Works staff dig into the hotspot to spread out the smoke. Photo courtesy of Public Works Director Sam Castro.
Due to a fire, the Grant County Landfill closed on Tuesday, but opened for usual hours Wednesday morning.
Landfill staff first smelled smoke on Monday, Public Works Director Sam Castro said, and discovered the hazard the morning of Dec. 29, in the form of a depression.
Once all nearby gas lines were shut off, they took an excavator and dug 10 to 15 feet into the target area, Castro said. That’s how deep the hotspot was. Next, they were able to remove the smoking debris and spread it out to cease the fire.
While the cause is yet to be determined, this sort of thing is not unusual, Castro said, and is commonly dealt with by trained employees of the landfill. The fire didn’t spread beyond the means of their control, so they didn’t call the fire department.
As organic matter decomposes, it releases methane gas, Castro said. For a fire to start, it needs an igniter. This could be any number of things which fall on their household hazardous waste list, but most commonly takes the form of a battery.
“We’ve gone through and digged and we’ll see, for example, a car battery,” Castro said. “And we’re scratching our heads trying to determine what we need to do to inform and educate the public that this does present a hazard to the landfill.”
Castro advises sorting out hazardous materials such as toxic cleaning products, oil-based paint and lithium batteries, so they don’t endanger those near a landfill. Several times a year, the county holds events for folks to come out and dispose of hazardous items.
For the full list of household hazardous waste items, as well as information on the next collection event, visit grantcountywa.gov.
