Solutions offered if landfill burns
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - If two underground fires are burning in Countywide landfill, what should the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency do to make sure the blazes don’t threaten the environment?
California landfill-fire expert Todd Thalhamer, who was brought here by the EPA to evaluate the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, told the agency Friday he believes an aluminum waste reaction sometime before December 2005 sparked two fires in the landfill. He recommended the EPA encourage Countywide to:
On Monday, Thalhamer, who works for the California Environmental Protection Agency, declined to elaborate on his recommendations.
“I rather not comment on it right now,” he said. “I don’t want to add to that scenario until the director (of the EPA) has rendered his opinion.”
Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski has committed to deciding by Wednesday whether he’ll recommend that the Stark County Board of Health renew the Countywide’s operating license.
LANDFILL FIRE SOLUTIONS
Tony Sperling, a landfill-fire expert based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, could not be reached for comment Monday on Thalhamer’s assessment.
But earlier this month, he said the solutions depend on the situation.
One could involve using water and chemicals to cool a fire. Another option is excavating burning material, treating it and then placing it back into the landfill. Another is trying to cut off the fire’s air supply because “if there’s no air, it’s not going to burn.”
A Federal Emergency Management Agency report on landfill fires, released in May 2002 and which Thalhamer and Sperling helped work on, cautions firefighters about the use of water at landfills. The report said large volumes of water can make the fire worse by fueling the reaction that’s causing the fire. Water can also overwhelm the landfill’s liquid waste collection system, contaminating area water.
The report also looks at the use of foam, which can insulate fuels, preventing an explosion and be used to put out blazes around flammable liquids. Heavy equipment might be needed to get to burning waste below the surface, but using it could be dangerous if the fire has compromised the landfill’s structural stability. Due to the danger of being exposed to burning waste and smoke, firefighters would need specialized protective equipment.
OUTSIDE HELP MAY BE NEEDED
East Sparta Fire chief Arnold Adams, whose fire department covers Pike Township, said his people don’t have the expertise to extinguish an underground landfill fire. It would have to be done by a private contractor. Canton Firefighter Fred Bertram, who chairs Stark State College of Technology’s emergency services department, said he doesn’t know anyone in the county who’s trained to battle such a fire.
Despite Thalhamer’s assessment, Countywide’s general manager Tim Vandersall says his landfill has no fire. He said the landfill’s consultants last year found no sign of flame, smoke, soot, charred residue or ash from thousands of waste samples pulled out of the landfill, as gas wells were being built. And hot temperatures in the landfill will not likely damage the liner, he said.
But fire or no fire, he said his people are still working to keep oxygen and water out of the landfill, to prevent them from fueling the reaction. One, they’re constantly tuning the gas-well system, to help keep out air. Second, his people are quickly repairing stretches and tears in the landfill’s 30-acre plastic cap. Unexpected waste settlement caused by the reaction is apparently affecting about 10 percent of the cap, he said.
“If steps aren’t taken to control a subsurface fire,” Sperling said, “It’ll burn itself out, which is generally the least likely scenario, or it will generally work itself to the surface and gain access to oxygen and cause a much bigger problem.
“A major subsurface landfill fire you’re not going to put out tomorrow; normally (it takes) weeks to months of effort to extinguish (such) a fire.”
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - If two underground fires are burning in Countywide landfill, what should the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency do to make sure the blazes don’t threaten the environment?
California landfill-fire expert Todd Thalhamer, who was brought here by the EPA to evaluate the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, told the agency Friday he believes an aluminum waste reaction sometime before December 2005 sparked two fires in the landfill. He recommended the EPA encourage Countywide to:
- Examine injection technologies. He said in a prior interview that liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon dioxide or foam could be injected to try to put out a fire.
- Expand the plastic cap over the landfill from 30 acres to its entire original 88 acres — presumably to help seal off more water and oxygen that could feed the reaction.
- Arrange to inject a solution of magnesium chloride, a strong rock salt, into part of the landfill, to see how effective it is in countering any existing fires. Countywide first proposed that idea in August after lab tests suggested the substance neutralizes the reaction, but the EPA was concerned the magnesium chloride might make things worse.
- Test “specialty foams” in the laboratory to see how effective they would be in extinguishing an underground fire.
On Monday, Thalhamer, who works for the California Environmental Protection Agency, declined to elaborate on his recommendations.
“I rather not comment on it right now,” he said. “I don’t want to add to that scenario until the director (of the EPA) has rendered his opinion.”
Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski has committed to deciding by Wednesday whether he’ll recommend that the Stark County Board of Health renew the Countywide’s operating license.
LANDFILL FIRE SOLUTIONS
Tony Sperling, a landfill-fire expert based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, could not be reached for comment Monday on Thalhamer’s assessment.
But earlier this month, he said the solutions depend on the situation.
One could involve using water and chemicals to cool a fire. Another option is excavating burning material, treating it and then placing it back into the landfill. Another is trying to cut off the fire’s air supply because “if there’s no air, it’s not going to burn.”
A Federal Emergency Management Agency report on landfill fires, released in May 2002 and which Thalhamer and Sperling helped work on, cautions firefighters about the use of water at landfills. The report said large volumes of water can make the fire worse by fueling the reaction that’s causing the fire. Water can also overwhelm the landfill’s liquid waste collection system, contaminating area water.
The report also looks at the use of foam, which can insulate fuels, preventing an explosion and be used to put out blazes around flammable liquids. Heavy equipment might be needed to get to burning waste below the surface, but using it could be dangerous if the fire has compromised the landfill’s structural stability. Due to the danger of being exposed to burning waste and smoke, firefighters would need specialized protective equipment.
OUTSIDE HELP MAY BE NEEDED
East Sparta Fire chief Arnold Adams, whose fire department covers Pike Township, said his people don’t have the expertise to extinguish an underground landfill fire. It would have to be done by a private contractor. Canton Firefighter Fred Bertram, who chairs Stark State College of Technology’s emergency services department, said he doesn’t know anyone in the county who’s trained to battle such a fire.
Despite Thalhamer’s assessment, Countywide’s general manager Tim Vandersall says his landfill has no fire. He said the landfill’s consultants last year found no sign of flame, smoke, soot, charred residue or ash from thousands of waste samples pulled out of the landfill, as gas wells were being built. And hot temperatures in the landfill will not likely damage the liner, he said.
But fire or no fire, he said his people are still working to keep oxygen and water out of the landfill, to prevent them from fueling the reaction. One, they’re constantly tuning the gas-well system, to help keep out air. Second, his people are quickly repairing stretches and tears in the landfill’s 30-acre plastic cap. Unexpected waste settlement caused by the reaction is apparently affecting about 10 percent of the cap, he said.
“If steps aren’t taken to control a subsurface fire,” Sperling said, “It’ll burn itself out, which is generally the least likely scenario, or it will generally work itself to the surface and gain access to oxygen and cause a much bigger problem.
“A major subsurface landfill fire you’re not going to put out tomorrow; normally (it takes) weeks to months of effort to extinguish (such) a fire.”
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Landfill fire expert Todd Thalhamer's report to the EPA
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Landfill fire expert Todd Thalhamer's report to the EPA
