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� I'-IVt7-1C1-1770 1JC/G �.1 VJI ID I U G LlV l:J1 VIS 710 GJJ •-�G 1^ f".CIG 1 WASTE TIRE FIRE AT S. F. ROYSTER TIRE DISPOSAL FACILITY TRACY CALIFORNIA Incident Report On the afternoon of Friday, August 7, 1998,a large waste tire facility storing a reported 7,000,000 waste tires owned by"S. F. Royster's Tire Disposal"south of the City of Tracy in San Joaquin County ignited in Flames and a towering black smoke plume. The smoke plume could be seem from as far away as Merced and southern Sacramento. At 4:27 p.m. on Friday a call was received, by the South San Joaquin County fire dispatcher, reporting a grass lire at lire Royster Tire Disposal facility. The Tracy Rural Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and confirmed the reported grass fire. In spite of the fire fig'hter's efforts to extinguish the grass fire, high winds took the fire into the waste tire storage area. Shortly a.ter the fire reached the waste tires the Eire was declared out of control Tihe hei-Iht of the fire occurred overnight, with a plume of smoke an estimated 5000 feet high by 2 miles wide: however.as the fire continued to burn the quantity of the smoke decreased. It was estimated that the fire could bum for several weeks. The estimated 6 to 8 million waste tires were spread out over the 7.0 to 30 acre site. The entire site was engulfed in fire,which-included the waste tire storage area,a mobile home.numerous vehicles and equipment,and accessory buildings. San Juaquin County Office of Emergency Services(OES)established a joint command center, at a staging area,adjacent to the fire. Once time command center was established,OES began the process of notifying all appropriate local, state and federal agencies,and requesting that they respond to the scene. California Integrated Waste Management Board(CI WMB)staff arrived on scene at 7 p.m., and met with OES.California Department of Forestry(CDF),San Joaquin County Department of Environmental Health, San Joaquin, Alameda,and Stanislaus County Fire Departments Hazmat units and law enforcement officials from City of Tracy,County of San Joaquin and die California Highway Patrol. Under Chapter 16 of the Public Resources Code(PRC)the CI WMB is responsible for the regulation of waste tire facilities. Furthermore, under PRC section 42846 the CIWMB may perform any cleanup, abatement,or remedial work which in its judgement is required by the magnitude of endeavor or the need for prompt action to prevent substantial pollution,nuisance,or injury to the public health or safety. Incident Command Objectives included: 1) Drafting a Public Health Advisory to advise the public of Health Concerns associated with the smoke and soot from the waste tire fire: 2)Secure general traffic with determined coordinates: 3)Assess health and environmental risks for present and future exposures:4) Recommend shelter in place if plume impacted residential areas; 5)Establish shelters in the advisory area once the advisory area was determined 6) Determine coordinates for the advisory area;and 7)Identify residences.with private water wells that may be impacted by contaminates from the fire getting into the ground water. At 12:40 a.m. the San Joaquin County Public Health Officer declared a Local Public Health Emergency and at 1:22 a.m.the San Joaquin County Board of Supervi3ors declared a Local State of Emergency. At 7 a.m.,on Saturday,August 8, 1998,the Joint Incident Command and experts from local Environmental Protection Agencie3,CI WMB,the Federal EnvirournenW Protection Agency(EPA)determined that the fire was confined to the waste tire storage area and that no additional attempts to suppress the fire would take place for the time being.The authorities agreed that the use of water to suppress this large tire fire would increase the hazard to surface and underground water supplies. Burying the waste tires with dirt would create additional problems with later clean up efforts.