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TIRE FIDE <br /> Continued from All <br /> using foam and water. Crews will <br /> build a containment pond to catch <br /> runoff. <br /> Once the fires are extinguished, <br /> crews will distribute a 2-foot layer of <br /> soil to cover the 400-yard-long pit <br /> for the winter. <br /> The board then will investigate <br /> how to remove the toxic byproducts. <br /> "There's saturated oil there," <br /> Thalhamer said. "How many thou- <br /> sands of gallons,or how many mil- <br /> lions of gallons,we don't know" <br /> He also said there are heavy levels <br /> of zinc at the site. <br /> For months before the fire, state <br /> regulators had pressured the pit's <br /> owner, Silas "Chuck" Royster, to <br /> clean up the site because of fire <br /> danger.Royster,who had been bat- <br /> tling cancer, died 11 days after the <br /> fire started. <br /> Fujii said the waste-management <br /> board is pursuing Royster's estate to <br /> recover some of the costs of extin- <br /> guishing the fire and removing con- <br /> taminants. <br /> The board is spending about <br /> $365,000 to put out the fire. <br /> In January,the state will increase <br /> a tax on each tire sold from 25 cents <br /> to$1 to pay for tire fire disasters like <br /> the Royster fire,the Westley tire fire <br /> of 1999 and the 1996 Panoche tire <br /> fire in Fresno County. <br /> Those three fires have raised pub- <br /> lic awareness about tire disposal <br /> and related hazards,Fujii said. <br /> "Before (Panoche), we probably <br /> didn't take these things as seriously <br /> as we should have. Now we know <br /> these things are issues,and we need <br /> to stay on top of it." <br /> Thalhamer, who has visited <br /> Guam and,more recently,Austria to <br /> review similar incidents, said tire <br /> storage and recycling are interna- <br /> tional problems. <br /> "Across the world,there's an issue <br /> with how you deal with tires," he <br /> said. "There's a problem world- <br /> wide." <br /> Back in Tracy, neighbors of the <br /> smoking fire pit are glad it will be <br /> history. <br /> Ana Muniz, 17,works at Country <br /> Market,a grocery and deli on Unne <br /> Road her family has owned for near- <br /> ly 30 years. <br /> She said Wednesday that, <br /> although her grandmother suffered <br /> some breathing difficulties when <br /> the fire started, the air has <br /> improved. <br /> "It was really gray.When I went <br /> outside,it was really strong,"Muniz <br /> said of the days after the inferno <br /> began."But everything's been clear <br /> for about a year." <br /> Of the fire finally being extin- <br /> guished,Muniz said:"It's good.That <br /> way we dont have to hear about it <br /> anymore." <br /> ■To reach reporter Fran Bott,phone <br /> 833-1122 or e-mail <br /> fbott@recordnet.com <br />