REDUCING THE RISK OF LANDFILL FIRE

Four Levels of Fire

Fires at landfills can be classified into four categories:

Level 1 Alerts:      Small fires occurring on landfill property but not actually involving landfilled refuse, compost or stockpiled recyclables, e.g. car fires, bin fires, equipment fires, office fires.

Level 2 Alerts:     Small refuse fires that can be contained by on-site resources within 24 hours and fully extinguished within 48 hours.  Level 2 fires will typically involve less than 200 cu. yds. of burning material.

Level 3 Alerts:      Medium size refuse fires or large fires at compost facilities that can be contained in less than one week and that can be fully extinguished in less than two weeks.  Typically, 500 to 2,500 cu. yds. of waste material are involved.

Level 4 Alerts:    Large or Deep Seated Landfill Fires that requires more than two weeks to contain, typically involving more than 2,500 cu. yds. of burning refuse.

It has been my experience on more than 20 landfill fire projects to date, and supported by descriptions of tens of landfill fire case histories on the internet that the majority of large Level 3 and Level 4 fires occur in DLC landfills. 

I believe the reasons for the increased risk of landfill fire at DLC sites are:

• less emphasis on proper soil cover since the waste is not putrescible
• poorer compaction and more air voids due to the size and rigidity of the waste
• waste products found in the DLC waste stream are more likely to spontaneously combust

      next page Importance of Cover Material