East Carbon area residents with respiratory problems were briefly advised to leave the area or to stay indoors Monday afternoon as a fire in one of the cells at the ECDC Environmental LC (formerly known as East Carbon Development Corporation) landfill billowed heavy black smoke into the air.
The advisory on the East Carbon City Utah.Inside Window Facebook page posted at 6 p.m. Monday read, “Stay inside, close all windows, turn off swamp coolers. If you have lung problems, you might want to leave the area.”
East Carbon City Police Chief Sam Leonard said smoke from the fire reached Columbia for a short time, but there were no reports of respiratory problems. The fire was in ECDC’s main cell. Railroad ties were burning, which caused the black smoke. He said, “thousands and thousands” of railroad ties are disposed of at the facility, classified as a non-hazardous waste landfill.
It was the second time in less than a week the cell has caught fire at the facility. Chief Leonard, who was on scene, said four huge “rock trucks” were used to haul in tons of dirt while bulldozers pushed the dirt over the fire– both last Wednesday, June 18, and again Monday afternoon. The East Carbon Fire Department also responded with two engines. Leonard said the crews were on the scene for about six hours last Wednesday, and about four hours Monday before the blaze was smothered. The cause of the fires has not been determined.
The landfill is located at 1111 West Highway 123, and is owned by Republic Services Inc., headquartered in Phoenix. The company operates landfills all over the country and according to its website, Republic is the second largest provider of non-hazardous solid waste collection, transfer, disposal, recycling and energy services in the United States, as measured by revenue. A call to the corporate office for comment on the fires was not returned by press time.
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