Firefighting operations have been resumed at a southeast recycling facility after several fires reignited inside waste mounds early Wednesday.
The emergency originally began on Sunday evening, September 6, when crews first responded to a fire at the ECCO Recycling site. Firefighters had gained control over the primary blaze by Monday night and handed over the control of the location back to company operators.
By Tuesday morning, reports of recurring smoke prompted emergency teams to return and oversee site safety throughout the day and overnight. Environmental monitoring units and hazardous materials specialists set up air testing equipment around the perimeter to prepare for changing conditions.
Around 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 9, fires reignited in several spots and began to actively spread throughout the piles sending thick smoke over adjacent areas.
Contractors using specialized excavators and heavy equipment were brought in to break the tightly packed refuse, to allow dedicated suppression personnel to douse the fire.
City officials confirmed that while the spread of the fire is limited to the landfill, the smoke conditions and continual reignition of fires require dedicated resources to properly extinguish this type of fire. Operations to deal with subsurface trash fires are currently being set up.
Authorities remind residents that active crews are managing the property, and the public should call emergency lines only if flames escape the site boundary.