Road conditions make fighting landfill fires difficult
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – Parts of the Columbus landfill were still burning Monday morning from a fire that started over the weekend.
“They had small spot fires, but it was a lot under control than when it was called in,” said Columbus Fire & Rescue Public Information Officer Jaquay Sherrod.
Columbus Fire and Rescue got the initial call around 5:30 Saturday evening, but due to road conditions at the landfill, Chief Duane Hughes and a Battalion Chief were the only ones able to check the scene.
“They went in themselves to check it. We didn’t send any crews in. That road is not paved. It’s a dirt road. Very muddy. Very bad conditions, so we did not send any fire trucks at that time,” said Sherrod.
Rain later in the evening helped extinguish some of the flames but made that mud worse.
CFR had to ask the city’s Public Works Director to open the landfill to assess the area.
There was no threat to the public.
Columbus Mayor Stephen Jones said the City is aware of the landfill’s road conditions.
“They do grade it from time to time where they’ll bring in some rocks or gravel and they’ll spread that out and fill in the holes,” said Jones.
The City is also studying the landfill’s future.
“We’ve actually had several meetings on what it would it look like to close the landfill. It’s coming to the end of its life,” said Jones.
CFR said the landfill is running out of space.
Jones also mentioned that the city will soon be returning the land, where the landfill is located, to the family it has been leased from.
CFR is still investigating the cause of the fire.
“We didn’t have a crew to put it out. We just kind of used the weather and the rain and stuff to help us put it out,” said Sherrod.
However, Chief Duane Hughes said the fire started from inside of a trash pile and burned its way to the top.
He said there have been seven other fires at the landfill this year.
The City used an excavator on smoking spots Monday morning to let the rain help put them out.
There is no active fire at the landfill.
CFR said the landfill should be completely extinguished overnight with the coming rain.
The Mayor advises residents to use the Golden Triangle Regional Landfill near West Point for the time being.
