It’s still not known what set off a fire at the Allen County Landfill Saturday afternoon.
But it didn’t have to be much, confirmed Mitch Garner, director of public works. Buried trash is “highly combustible,” Garner said.
Firefighters from four departments — Moran and LaHarpe volunteers, the Allen County Rural volunteers and the Iola Fire Department — battled the expansive blaze for 12 hours.
A south wind carried the fire “down the west side of the hill and across that particular cell,” said Garner on Friday morning, estimating it encompassed about an acre altogether.
“It was pretty hot,” he said.
Also on duty were EMS patrols, those with the Allen County Emergency Management department and the Allen County Sheriff’s Department.
Though the fire appeared extinguished around 8 p.m., it reignited around 10 p.m. The last flames were snuffed out around 2 a.m.
The local landfill consists of about 76 acres, including a quarry. The county is also in the process of creating another new cell to accommodate more trash. The site is 1 mile southeast of LaHarpe.
The landfill is a mountain of waste. Over time, bacteria breaks down the garbage. That process produces carbon dioxide and methane gas, the latter of which is highly flammable.
A continuous flare burns at the landfill to release the buildup of the methane contained in 16 wells.
At one time, the methane was directed to heat the department’s maintenance building at the site, “but that hasn’t been the case for years,” Garner said, estimating at least seven years.
Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions in the United States, according to the EPA. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
So yes, as environmental stewards we should do everything we can to limit its release into the air.
THE SAME DAY of the landfill fire I received a photo from local dairy farmer and recycling enthusiast Steve Strickler showing two large bales of plastic bottles, etc., ready to be transported to Coffey County’s recycling center.
“Who said recycling was dead in Allen County?” Strickler wrote. “Besides sending five semi-tractor loads of cardboard in the last six months, we’re now baling plastic!
“But we need our county and city officials to take the responsibility,” he said.
