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Monday <br /> ■ August 14, 2000 <br /> r(I 4610 <br /> Tire fire leaves mess­ <br /> racy Ripon• <br /> r .7z, <br /> for residents officials Smoldering �, <br /> tire fire N, <br /> By Abble Dutcher touched off an inferno that <br /> Record Staff Writer burned for a month, turning near- SAN 33 <br /> ly half the stockpiled tires into a JOAQUIN Gr so <br /> Nearly a year after a massive molten stew of melted rubber, CO. <br /> fire charred millions of tires in the petroleum oil, sludge and other <br />-foothills in western Stanislaus toxic chemicals. <br /> County, residents' memories of the Heavy black smoke choked res- STANISLAUS <br />•conflagration remain vivid while idents for days and dusted area CO. <br /> the legal debate over who is communities and parts of the Bay <br />-responsible still simmers. Area with soot and oily residue. <br /> State and local authorities say Firefighters and environmental Oxford Tire <br /> they had been trying for decades experts, armed with heavy equip- Rec cfin CO. <br />-to get fire hauler Edward Filbin ment, foam and water, eventually �' Y 9 <br /> and subsequent owners to remove extinguished the blaze in late <br /> the 7 million waste tires that had October. <br />'been stockpiled on a 40-acre site In contrast, a similar tire fire Sheldon Cordier-Carpenter/Record• <br /> west of Interstate 5 and the corn- south of Tracy continues to smol- Disposal pit. <br />,munity of Westley. der two years after it started. For months, state regulators had! <br /> On Sept. 22, 1999, Mother On Aug. 7, 1998, a spark from pressured the pit's owner, Silas <br /> Nature did it for them. electrical equipment ignited 8 mil- <br /> A pre-dawn lightning strike lion tires at the Royster Tire Please see TIRE FIRE,Back page <br />