ARCHIVED REPORTS_1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Safety - Fire The incidence of fire contained within or related to the existing Harney Lane landfill have steadily decreased since the County assumed opera- tional responsibility in January 1975. The number of fires which required a response from the Linden -Peters Rural Fire Department are provided below: TABLE 11 FIRE INCIDENCE AT HARNEY LANE LANDFILL 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 3 5 1* 3 0 1 0 *vehicle fire In June 1974, a fire escaped the confines of the landfill, burned one fire truck and consumed approximately 100 acres of adjacent land. Since that time however, all fires have been contained within the landfill. By way of an agreement between the Rural Fire Department and each land- fill, the on-site personnel at each landfill must respond to fires within the landfill. The Harney Lane landfill is required by agreement to have a 1000 - gallon (minimum) portable water supply, in addition to a 2000 -gallon storage tank. The existing landfill has a five -horsepower pump to maintain the water level within the storage tank. The on-site personnel must respond to each fire, and may call from the District when their assistance is required. At night, when there are no personnel on-site, the District responds to fire calls at the landfill, and turns over responsibility when Department of Public Works personnel arrive on the scene. This arrangement is expected to continue when the proposed landfill begins operation. The District may require a heavier duty pump of 15 -horsepower to maintain the water level in the storage tank. A standard fire department connection to facilitate use by the District may also be required, which will also help avoid the laying of long lengths of hose when responding to a land- fill fire. Most of the fires appear to have resulted from smoldering debris that had been deposited at the landfill. This has been mitigated to a significant degree already by imposing a visual inspection system. Furthermore, passenger autos are no longer allowed to back up to the edge of a pit and dump material directly into the landfill. Waste material is now deposited on flat ground and later bulldozed into the pit. The intervening time allows for a more com- plete and accurate visual inspection, and smoldering debris can be identified