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PILES: State seeks reimbursement from pit owner's estatE CONTINUED FROM A-1 fighting for years: The disposal t yards harbor vermin and disease-spreading mosquitoes, but are especially dangerous be- cause they catch fire. In California, the state Inte- grated Waste Management �" •, Board is redoubling efforts to clean up the 15 million tires still on the ground throughout Cali- fornia and put them in legal dis- posal sites. • In coordination with thek� 9 waste board, California Highway Kr at xsro Patrol has taken to the sky to ` find illegal tire piles. So far, CHP pilots have found 20 piles total- ing more than 10,000 tires. • The state, threatening fines of $10,000 per day, is orderingao businessman Ed Filbin to clean I,. up an illegal pile near Westley in ,- � • � `� � Stanislaus County. The foothills #x }a �z dump contains an estimated 6 �ry million tires. • The state has spent $11.6 million to develop markets for using shredded tires in asphalt paving and levee improvements. None of this was any help tob the still-lit Tracy pile. "It's pretty close to dead," Tracy Fire Chief Terrell Estes said, noting that the flames died out months ago. " �z The S.F. Royster Tire Disposal z Y,oiy a� facility, once the West Coast's r } largest used-tire dump, caught fire Aug. 7, 1998. What's left today are tons of contaminated ash lining a for- AL GOLUB/THE BEE mer gravel quarry off MacArthur Road. Early next year the federal At left, even after a year, the fire at the Environmental Protection Agen- Royster Tire Disposal facility smolders on. q cy expects to start assessing how Right, smoke from the Aug. 7, 1998, tire best to clean up the ash, which likely contains zinc, lead and pile near Tracy could be seen in other heavy metals. Sacramento and Merced. "We can't do an assessment of the contaminants until the fire goes out," said EPA's Donn Zer- ofsky. Meanwhile, a state attorney struction recalls racing to the pit "County health just checked our The lawsuit alleges that general's lawsuit against the es- about 4:25 p.m. that summer day well and it wasn't contaminat- Royster did nothing to comply tate of facility owner Silas and finding a Royster employee ed," said the mother of three with an Aug. 11, 1997, waste- Royster is proceeding in San beating the grass fire with a girls. "That's what we are con- board order to stop receiving Joaquin County Superior Coun- jacket. cerned about." tires and remove the existing ty. The foreman said he radioed The EPA's Zerofsky also cited ones. The maximum fines are Royster, who amassed 7 mil- for a large Teichert-owned water recent mistakes in battling tire $20,000 per day from that date, lion junk tires while fending off truck, then discovered only a blazes. but a court decides the amount. regulatory actions, died 11 days small truck could navigate be- Applying sand to an Arizona "In talking with their attor- after the fire erupted. Officials tween the tire stacks. tire fire served to prolong the ney," Wunderlich said, "my un- hope, to extract cleanup costs Among the first firefighters on misery — it's been burning for derstanding is they want to get from his $300,000 estate. the scene was Tracy Rural Fire two years. the site cleaned up and then sell His failure to create firebreaks Chief Larry Fragoso. He said On the island of Guam, fire- the property." and supply water to the facility hope was lost when the burning fighters tried to accelerate corn- The attorney for the estate, left workers with no means to grass ignited a large central bustion by blowing air into the Brett Nesin of Stockton, was un- stop the grass fire that spread to mound of tires, sending flaming burning treads. The back draft available for comment. A grand- the tire dump, state officials say. bundles of tires rolling in all di- nearly killed them. daughter of Royster's said the "If he had water on the site rections. "People who say they have matter was too painful for her and fire extinguishers, that fire The EPA-inspired decision to successfully fought tire fires mother to discuss with the press. could have been put out," said let it burn saved local agencies have been dealing with a very Officials are unsure of the Eric Lamoureux of the state Inte- bundles of money. Federal reim- small pile of tires compared to cleanup costs and whether any- grated Waste Management bursement claims submitted by (Tracy's)," Zerofsky said. one would buy the Royster site. Board, an agency that has been fire, police and county agencies While federal SuperFund mon- Typical cleanup scenarios would cracking down hard on tire recently totaled only $21,000. ey may be spent in Tracy, offi- entail removing all contaminants dumps. Local officials defend the deci- cials first want to go after a and fencing the site, or on-site Although the cause never was sion, saying there was no space piece of Royster's estate. burial of the ash in an imperme- officially determined, those who in the 30-acre pit to separate un- Tuesday, a Superior Court able liner, Lamoureux said. fought the Tracy fire early on burned tires from the fire. In ad- judge will consider Deputy At- Officials also expect other vouch for the initial account — dition, officials say, the intense torney General Walter Wunder- creditors to be standing in line. which underscored the lack of heat kept smoke from drifting lich's motion to add Royster's Royster filed for bankruptcy in on-site fire suppression. into populated areas and so far two daughters, the personal rep- 1993 and was hit with a federal The spark reputedly came has kept byproducts from seep- resentatives named on his will, grand-jury indictment last year from weed eaters operated by ing into the groundwater. as defendants in a July 1998 law- alleging that he concealed a 53- two Royster employees. A fore- Nearby resident Melodie Gri- suit seeking regulatory fines foot pleasure boat and $140,000 man for nearby Teichert Con- zoff agreed with the decision. from Royster. from the sale of apartments.