WARREN Underground landfill fires cause much concern

These fires can burn for weeks without being noticed.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Aerial photographs of the Warren Recycling landfill have identified what may be two underground fires, each covering three to five acres.
The heat-sensitive photographs, taken July 8, show two large, warm areas on the massive mounds of construction and demolition debris on the Martin Luther King Road property.
The pictures also suggest that attempts in June to put out an earlier fire were successful, said Paul Ruesch, an environmental engineer in the EPA's Midwest division.
That fire was identified in February from patches of melted snow.
The aerial photographs were presented to a group of about 30 people Wednesday, at a public forum sponsored by the U.S. and Ohio EPA.
Paul Ruesch said he had just received the infrared pictures, and they have not been fully interpreted. They were presented to landfill officials earlier that day, he said.
"Nothing on these images jumps out as being imminent, that we have a big problem out there," he said. "We will make sure we identify the hot spots, and if there are hot spots, they will be addressed."
Handling the problem
Temperature-sensitive probes will be driven into the landfill to determine if there is a fire, said Jack Stacy, who manages the site for landfill operator Warren Hills. The company is responsible for stopping fires under a consent decree finalized earlier this month.
Since Warren Hills took over day-to-day operations a few months ago, it has been using specialized equipment to stamp down debris and has been doing a more thorough job covering it with dirt, with Stacy said.
"In the area they are putting in now, you are not going to see these fire problems," Ruesch said.
Landfill fires are hazardous because smoke can contain chemicals from PVC, treated lumber, paint, asphalt, or whatever else is burning, he said. However, they take weeks to develop to the point where much smoke or flames are visible, he said.
Many at the meeting expressed concerns that any manner of trash could be buried at the site.
"I believe the only person to know what is in that landfill is my God above," said city Councilman Robert Holmes III, D-4th. He said he has seen trucks going in and out of the facility at all hours of the night.
Water as a resource
City council is expected to vote today on the second reading of an ordinance which could permit water that percolates through debris at the landfill to be piped directly into the city wastewater system.
Officials say the water is the source of smelly hydrogen sulfide gas, which has drawn numerous complaints from neighbors and has been labeled as an urgent health hazard by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registers, a non-regulatory wing of the Centers for Disease Control.
Regulators and landfill officials are working on plans to replace ponds of the stinky water with a system of pipes and automatic pumps, which they say should reduce the escaping smell.