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Waste Fires and Landfill Safety Overview
- 2. Overview • Types • Causes • Assessments
- 3. 3 Frequency of Waste Fires 1. Landfills (Closed/Operating LF and Transfer Stations) 2. Wood/Sawdust Storage 3. C&D Facilities 4. Tire Facilities 5. Recycling Facilities
- 4. 4Source: Opinion of Mr. Thalhamer, P.E. Toxicity of Waste Fires 1. Tire, Recyclable-Plastic 2. Landfill 3. C&D 4. Wood/Sawdust
- 8. 8 LF Fire Hazards? • Waste Type (Asbestos, HHW, Radiological, Cont Soils, Auto Shredder Fluff, Reactives, etc.) • Equipment • LF Gasses • LF Operations – Working Face – New Roads – Tipping Floor • LF Engineering Controls • Confined Spaces
- 9. 9Source: www.usepa.gov How Much Trash Per Year • In the US – 251 million Tons/year (CA 36% waste stream) • Per Truck @ 20 Tons = 12.5 million loads
- 10. MSW a Fuel? Solid waste is a high energy fuel: • MSW ~ 4,000 to 7,000 BTU/lb • Demolition/Land-Clearing/Construction ~ 6,500 BTU/lb • Paper ~ 7,000 BTU/lb • Wood ~10,000 BTU/lb. • Most plastics are in the 15,000 to 22,000 BTU/lb • Gasoline ~ 15,000 to 22,000 BTU/lb 10
- 11. What size is your working face Why? • If one gallon of water absorb ~ 9,300 BTU and you have1000 ton working face • How many gallons of water in theory would you need to suppress a fire if the entire working face was involved? • Theory would have it at 1.075 M gallons • Using four fire engines at 1000 gpm (deck) • 4.4. hours of fire flow. 11
- 12. Do you even have a hydrant? • Where is the nearest fire hydrant? • What is the flow? • How do you support 4000 gpm? • Can your water district handle the fire flow? • Can your water truck connect into a fire engine? • Can you see the dominoes lining up? 12
- 13. 13 Perception • Landfill Operators vs. Regulatory • Fire Service vs. Landfill Operators • Community vs. Landfill Operators • Fire Service vs. Regulatory • Fire Service Resources? Vol/Paid • Water Source / Soil Source • Pre Plan VIDEO
- 14. 14 Categories • Landfill Fire – Surface Fire – Subsurface/Underground Fire [AKA SSE]
- 15. 15 Terminology • Landfill Fires [Both Surface and Underground] – Industry Term – 1st substantial paper in 1984, Sterns and Petoyan, Identifying and Controlling Landfill Fires, Waste Management Research – Later became “How to Find and Treat Subsurface Fires”, Waste Age 1984
- 16. 16 Definitions • Landfill Fire / Subsurface Fire / Underground Fire • ROSE • SOE • Chemical Reaction • Pyrolysis • Puff the Magic Dragon (yes this has been used) • All the same? YES Suggestion … If the fire is subsurface, call your issue a “smoldering event”
- 17. 17 Cause of surface LF Fires • Embers in a hot load • Careless smoking • Reactive substances • Methane flash from equipment spark • Spontaneous Combustion • Lightning Strike • Arson
- 18. 18Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com Reactive Sawdust Load, Calgary
- 19. 19Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com Magnesium Chloride, Waste Connection, Ore.
- 21. 21 Subsurface • Material burning below the surface in a waste pile • Typically in C&D facilities and dump sites • Will find “worm holes” in the waste
- 23. 23 Subsurface Fire • Difficult to locate • Extinguishment is time consuming • Create “worm holes”
- 24. 24 Worm Hole
- 26. 26 Causes of Subsurface Fires • Spontaneous combustion • Inadequate cover • Over Pulling of a GCS system • Air/Oxygen intrusion through fissures or other features • Previous surface fire • Disposal of reactive materials
- 27. 27 Subsurface Fire Locations • Typically fires at LF w/GCS are at slopes or grade breaks where the compaction and depth of soil is less than the main deck • Or can occur at the well head if no seal is present
- 28. 28 Does the facility have a GCS • This will help you determine the cause, extent and magnitude of the fire – LF fire with GCS are generally caused by over pulling • Watch out for subsurface fires w/o GCS – Barometric influence and extended burning
- 29. 29 Most Common Cause Subsurface Fires/Smoldering Events • Overpulling of a gas collection system Which system is better? Fire side/Waste side
- 30. 30Source: CalRecycle - Thalhamer Detecting a SE • Substantial settlement over a short time • Smoke or smoldering odor emanating from the gas extraction system or landfill • Levels of CO in excess of 1000 ppmv • Combustion residue in wells and/or headers • Increase in gas temperature in the extraction system (above 140° F or large ΔT) • Temperatures in excess of 165 ° F • Oddities???
- 31. 31 Settlement Due to SE
- 32. 32Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com Collapse Feature Carmon Landfill – Israel
- 33. 33Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com Combustion Residue
- 37. 37 Prevention • Look for gravel pathways i.e. access roads • Ensure soil compaction on slope • Additional Cover > 1ft (low permeability soil) – Occurrence of UF, consider final cover • Decrease extraction rate or shut down • Increase monitoring frequency • Prevent air intrusion through maintenance and well seals
- 38. 38 Prevention – Additional Soil • Min Perm of 1x10-6 • Max particle size 3 inches • Classified SC, ML, CL, CH • Extend cover min 10 ft • Min cover 24 inches • Max lift 9 inches
- 39. 39 • Type O [not ICS term, Thalhamerism] – Operational in nature, handled by operator ($0 to $10K) • Type 5 – Visible smoke, additional resources, 911 called, 1 to 8 hours of suppression (1 Business Day) activities ($10K to $100K) • Type 4 – 8 to 24 hours of suppression activities ($100K to $250K) • Type 3 – Up to one week of suppression activities ($250K to $1M) • Type 2 – More than a week of suppression activities ($1M to $2M) • Type 1 – More than a month of suppression activities ($2M to +$5M) LF Fire Types (Per ICS)
- 40. Type O 40
- 41. 41 Forward LF, CA • Type O – Small handled by LF Resources • NSPS exception – Oxygen at 15% in GCS • Seven landfill fires in less than 18 months • Cause - gas migration in two probes • Overdraw issue
- 42. 42 Type 5 - LF Fire
- 43. 43 Type 4
- 44. 44 Type 3 – LF Fire
- 45. 45 Type 2/1 – LF Fire Fresno
- 46. 46 Type 1 – Helotes, TX
- 47. Type 1 - Panama 47