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Waste Fires

Overview

• Types• Causes• Assessments

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Frequency of Waste Fires

1. Landfills (Closed/Operating LF and Transfer Stations)

2. Wood/Sawdust Storage

3. C&D Facilities

4. Tire Facilities

5. Recycling Facilities

4Source: Opinion of Mr. Thalhamer, P.E.

Toxicity of Waste Fires

1. Tire, Recyclable-Plastic

2. Landfill

3. C&D

4. Wood/Sawdust

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Safe Operations

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Safe Operations?

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Overview LF

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LF Fire Hazards?• Waste Type (Asbestos, HHW, Radiological,

Cont Soils, Auto Shredder Fluff, Reactives, etc.)• Equipment• LF Gasses• LF Operations

– Working Face– New Roads– Tipping Floor

• LF Engineering Controls• Confined Spaces

9Source: www.usepa.gov

How Much Trash Per Year

• In the US– 251 million Tons/year (CA 36% waste stream)

• Per Truck @ 20 Tons = 12.5 million loads

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MSW a Fuel?Solid waste is a high energy fuel:• MSW ~ 4,000 to 7,000 BTU/lb• Demolition/Land-Clearing/Construction ~

6,500 BTU/lb• Paper ~ 7,000 BTU/lb • Wood ~10,000 BTU/lb. • Most plastics are in the 15,000 to 22,000

BTU/lb • Gasoline ~ 15,000 to 22,000 BTU/lb

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What size is your working face

Why?• If one gallon of water absorb ~ 9,300 BTU

and you have1000 ton working face• How many gallons of water in theory

would you need to suppress a fire if the entire working face was involved?

• Theory would have it at 1.075 M gallons• Using four fire engines at 1000 gpm (deck)• 4.4. hours of fire flow.

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Do you even have a hydrant?

• Where is the nearest fire hydrant?• What is the flow?• How do you support 4000 gpm?• Can your water district handle the fire flow?• Can your water truck connect into a fire

engine?• Can you see the dominoes lining up?

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Perception

• Landfill Operators vs. Regulatory • Fire Service vs. Landfill Operators• Community vs. Landfill Operators• Fire Service vs. Regulatory• Fire Service Resources? Vol/Paid• Water Source / Soil Source• Pre Plan

VIDEO

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Categories• Landfill Fire

– Surface Fire– Subsurface/Underground Fire [AKA SSE]

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Terminology

• Landfill Fires [Both Surface and Underground]

– Industry Term– 1st substantial paper in 1984, Sterns and

Petoyan, Identifying and Controlling Landfill Fires, Waste Management Research

– Later became “How to Find and Treat Subsurface Fires”, Waste Age 1984

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Definitions

• Landfill Fire / Subsurface Fire / Underground Fire• ROSE• SOE• Chemical Reaction• Pyrolysis• Puff the Magic Dragon (yes this has been used)

• All the same? YESSuggestion …

If the fire is subsurface, call your issue a “smoldering event”

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Cause of surface LF Fires

• Embers in a hot load• Careless smoking• Reactive substances• Methane flash from equipment spark• Spontaneous Combustion• Lightning Strike• Arson

18Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com

Reactive Sawdust Load, Calgary

19Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com

Magnesium Chloride, Waste Connection, Ore.

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Aluminum Dross

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Subsurface

• Material burning below the surface in a waste pile

• Typically in C&D facilities and dump sites• Will find “worm holes” in the waste

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Subsurface Fire

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Subsurface Fire

• Difficult to locate• Extinguishment is time consuming• Create “worm holes”

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Worm Hole

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Subsurface Fire

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Causes of Subsurface Fires

• Spontaneous combustion• Inadequate cover• Over Pulling of a GCS system• Air/Oxygen intrusion through

fissures or other features• Previous surface fire• Disposal of reactive materials

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Subsurface Fire Locations

• Typically fires at LF w/GCS are at slopes or grade breaks where the compaction and depth of soil is less than the main deck

• Or can occur at the well head if no seal is present

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Does the facility have a GCS

• This will help you determine the cause, extent and magnitude of the fire– LF fire with GCS are generally caused by over

pulling

• Watch out for subsurface fires w/o GCS– Barometric influence and extended burning

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Most Common Cause Subsurface Fires/Smoldering Events

• Overpulling of a gas collection systemWhich system is better? Fire side/Waste side

30Source: CalRecycle - Thalhamer

Detecting a SE• Substantial settlement over a short time• Smoke or smoldering odor emanating from the

gas extraction system or landfill • Levels of CO in excess of 1000 ppmv• Combustion residue in wells and/or headers• Increase in gas temperature in the extraction

system (above 140° F or large ΔT)• Temperatures in excess of 165 ° F• Oddities???

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Settlement Due to SE

32Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com

Collapse Feature Carmon Landfill – Israel

33Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com

Combustion Residue

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Venting with smoke

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Ventingwithout smoke

Temperature is your evidence

Temperature is +485 F

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Elevated Temperature

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Prevention

• Look for gravel pathways i.e. access roads

• Ensure soil compaction on slope• Additional Cover > 1ft (low

permeability soil)– Occurrence of UF, consider final cover

• Decrease extraction rate or shut down

• Increase monitoring frequency• Prevent air intrusion through

maintenance and well seals

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Prevention – Additional Soil

• Min Perm of 1x10-6

• Max particle size 3 inches• Classified SC, ML, CL, CH• Extend cover min 10 ft• Min cover 24 inches• Max lift 9 inches

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• Type O [not ICS term, Thalhamerism]

– Operational in nature, handled by operator ($0 to $10K)• Type 5

– Visible smoke, additional resources, 911 called, 1 to 8 hours of suppression (1 Business Day) activities ($10K to $100K)

• Type 4– 8 to 24 hours of suppression activities ($100K to $250K)

• Type 3– Up to one week of suppression activities ($250K to $1M)

• Type 2– More than a week of suppression activities ($1M to $2M)

• Type 1– More than a month of suppression activities ($2M to +$5M)

LF Fire Types (Per ICS)

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Type O

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Forward LF, CA

• Type O – Small handled by LF Resources• NSPS exception – Oxygen at 15% in GCS• Seven landfill fires in less than 18 months• Cause - gas migration in two probes• Overdraw issue

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Type 5 - LF Fire

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Type 4

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Type 3 – LF Fire

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Type 2/1 – LF Fire Fresno

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Type 1 – Helotes, TX

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Type 1 - Panama