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UNDERSTANDING AND
CONTROLLING LANDFILL FIRES
Conclusions and Lessons Learned:
Based
on the experience developed during the extinguishment of landfill
fires discussed in this paper a number of conclusions can be reached
with respect to prevention of fires in demolition and MSW materials
and effective fire control methods:
Fire Prevention:
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intermediate cover
material must be installed on all exposed slopes with particular
attention given to
windward slopes;
-
fill plans incorporating
vertical fire breaks need to be developed for demolition areas
to limit the potential extent of any fires; and
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due to their composition
and porosity wood-waste demolition materials pose an extreme fire
risk and must be handled with equal or more caution than municipal
solid waste
Fire
Fighting and Monitoring:
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sufficient
equipment resources and personnel must be available to immediately
respond to any landfill fire;
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the
toxicity of smoke and combustion gases should be assessed prior
to commencing a fire fight. Proper respiratory protection,
possibly involving SCBA may be required;
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the approach of cooling down an underground
fire with large volumes of water proved effective at Vancouver
Landfill and is expected to work equally well on other demolition
material fires provided the hot zone is shallow (<10 m);
-
cutting
off the oxygen supply to the burn zone is an effective way to
fight fire in demolition materials. This approach has effectively
extinguished the Campbell Mountain Landfill fire and is currently
being used to control a large DLC fire at Waste Management’s Burnsville
Landfill in Minnesota;
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excavation and overhaul is a reliable but time consuming
and expensive method of fire extinguishment. This method
should be considered for critical situations where the landfill
fire poses a major threat to nearby communities and/or infrastructure;
-
an
effective temperature monitoring program is essential in determining
the extent of an underground fire and to monitor progress in fighting
the fire;
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subsurface carbon monoxide levels in conjunction
with methane and oxygen levels provide critical data in determining
the extent of a fire as well as evaluating the potential for a
fire to develop; and
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to
reduce the risk of spontaneous combustion, operators should strive
to establish anaerobic conditions within demolition landfills
whereby oxygen is totally excluded, with methane and carbon dioxide
being the predominant gases.
    
End of Article
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