Improperly disposed stove ash eyed in Rockland solid waste facility debris fire
Rockland firefighters pick away at a debris pile fire at the Rockland Solid Waste Facility Saturday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Rockland Fire Department/by Alan Athearn)
Waste facility mployees use a front-end loader, left, to dig into the burning demo pile so water can penetrate and put it out the fire. (Photo courtesy Rockland Fire Department/by Alan Athearn)
Rockland firefighters pick away at a debris pile fire at the Rockland Solid Waste Facility Saturday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Rockland Fire Department/by Alan Athearn)
Waste facility mployees use a front-end loader, left, to dig into the burning demo pile so water can penetrate and put it out the fire. (Photo courtesy Rockland Fire Department/by Alan Athearn)
ROCKLAND — Rockland firefighters and city solid waste facility personnel spent about an hour Saturday afternoon working to extinguish a fire on one side of the city dump's demolition pile.
"The fire was about 20-feet around and 8-feet deep in the pile that consisted of demo wood, insulation, discarded carpeting, couches and mattresses," said Rockland Asst. Fire Chief Adam Miceli.
The facility's demolition pile is reserved for non-recyclable trash that is either trucked away or buried, said Miceli.
It is believed that the fire was fanned and eventually ignited by the wind, which sparked smoldering ashes erroneously disposed of in the demolition pile.
"It appears some hot ashes, probably stove ashes, had been put on the pile," said Miceli.
Like all municipal waste facilities, the Rockland Solid Waste Facility on Limerock Street has a receptacle specifically for stove ashes that is also placed away from combustibles. Stove, fireplace and grill ashes can smolder for days, weeks and even months, especially when placed in a box or airtight container by someone who thinks containing them will put them out.
Instead, confined ashes are an accident waiting to happen, as all it takes is exposure to air, especially a wind gust, the fan them into flames.
Miceli said people can't be too careful when it comes to proper disposal of fire ash, especially when it's fresh and hasn't been wet down.
"Where these ashes were located, there was plenty of fuel around to get something going, and it did," said Miceli. "Thankfully, the dump was open and employees were able to use their front-end loader to dig up the pile so we could get at it with water."
Had those circumstances been different, Miceli said the fire could have burned unnoticed for longer and grown larger, and it could have taken more manpower and water to put it out.
"It would have taken a lot more people and time dig it up and we used just one tank, about 600 gallons, of water and some foam to do the job with their help," said Miceli. "In the end, nobody was injured, nothing was damaged and the dump was able to stay open where we were working on the fire."
Event Date
Address
400 Limerock Street
Rockland, ME 04841
United States
