EXTINGUISHING THE DELTA SHAKE AND SHINGLE LANDFILL FIRE 

Site History
The Delta Shake and Shingle Landfill is a privately run construction demolition landfill located in North Delta, near Vancouver, British Columbia. The site was developed on very soft foundation conditions including organic peats and unconsolidated clays and silts. The landfill commenced operations in 1989. It was permitted to receive 20,000 tonnes of waste per year.

By November of 1998, almost the entire 13 ha landfill footprint was covered with waste to a height of 18 m above ground, with the exception of a horseshoe shaped area on the north side of the landfill
(see photo1). The landfill was developed in 3 m high lifts that were capped with soil and/or hog fuel (shredded wood waste) intermediate cover. The horseshoe shaped area was the original location for the scale and administration facilities. To maximize revenues, the new landfill owner who purchased the property relocated the scale and offices onto an adjacent property north of the railway tracks and commenced to fill in the horseshoe.

The bottom of the horseshoe was first covered with a 3 to 4.5 m thick lift of inert concrete and blacktop demolition material from the Expo 86 site. Over the next 10 months the landfill received a steady stream of demolition waste including crushed dimensional lumber, tar roofing shingles, plastic and metal.

As shown in (Photo2), incoming waste was dumped into the horseshoe from above and pushed into place with a bulldozer. As a result, the waste was loosely deposited in a single 15 m deep layer through out the entire horseshoe  cell without proper compaction or soil firebreaks, contrary to requirements of the operating permit.

After issuing several non-compliance citations, the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks (MoELP) ordered the landfill to close on November 9th 1999. By that time, over 250,000 m(3) of waste were deposited in the horseshoe.

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