Monroe County landfill tire fire now deemed under control

PETERSTOWN, WV (WVNS) – The fire at H.A.M. Sanitary Landfill that started back on the night of Friday, August 2, is now deemed under control.

Containing this fire at this Monroe County landfill was quite the task, however.

There were several organizations that helped to put out the blaze – around 20 in total, including first responders from as far as Nicholas County joining in to help.

Richard Miller, the 911 Director of Monroe County, told 59News about one of the ways they were able to extinguish the fire.

“The company that owns the landfill brought in a specialized contractor out of Charleston that specializes in this type of service, and they used an excavator and water streams. He was looking for a needle in a haystack, so to speak. He went through every square inch of the debris pile, looking for hotspots and extinguishing them,” said Miller.

After crews began their work to extinguish the fire Friday, they had to temporarily halt their efforts on Saturday, August 3 due to the problems with the water supply, drought conditions, and overall fatigue among the workers.

They were able to resume hours later and work around the clock with additional help from other departments in the region until 2 p.m. on Monday, August 5.

“We had DEP on site, they have an emergency response team out of the homeland security office. They responded readily and quick. [The] EPA was there and they were looking at the air quality. We did not have anybody that was at life risk. So, we were looking at our environment and the stockpile was located in such a manner that all the runoff went back into their recovery ponds,” explained Miller.

The list of organizations involved in this fire suppression include:

• Operational Staff of H.A.M. Sanitary Landfill, LLC.
• Peterstown Volunteer Fire and Rescue
• Ballard Volunteer Fire Department
• Lindside Volunteer Fire Department
• Union Volunteer Fire Department
• Rich Creek (Virginia) Volunteer Fire Department
• Oakdale Volunteer Fire Department
• Matoaka Volunteer Fire Department
• Talcott Volunteer Fire Department
• Poplar Hill (Virginia) Volunteer Fire Department
• City of Lewisburg Fire Department
• Meadow Bridge Volunteer Fire Department
• Celanese Corp and Talcott VFD for IR Drone Support
• WV Department of Highways District 10 Princeton Division
• West Virginia Department of Highways District 3 Parkersburg
• West Virginia Division of Emergency Management for:
  • Monroe – Richard Miller
  • Mercer – Keith Gunnoe
  • Nicholas – John McGinnis
  • Region 5 Emergency Management Team
• Giles County (Virginia) Emergency Management
• West Virginia Homeland Security Response Team from DEP Group
• Federal EPA team for air monitoring support
• Red Sulphur Public Service District
• Giles Public Service District

This is not the first time Miller has received a report of a fire in this landfill, but he said the most recent fire is unrelated to the other reported fires.

The cause of this fire is still under investigation.

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