Expert: 2 fires at landfill
The Times-Reporter
EAST SPARTA - Two fires are burning beneath Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility according to Todd Thalhamer, the landfill-fire expert called in by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
“Countywide is experiencing a classic metal fire and a smoldering fire,” Thalhamer stated in an e-mail of his findings sent to Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski Friday.
Thalhamer’s e-mail was made public shortly after it was received by Korleski as the result of a public records request made by Copley Ohio Newspapers.
A California EPA expert on underground fires with an engineering background, Thalhamer was called in as a consultant after infrared images taken by a Kent pilot on Dec. 30 and a subsequent newspaper article refueled debate about whether or not the landfill was on fire.
Thalhamer returned a call Friday from his home in California and said he would let his e-mail to Korleski speak for itself for the time being.
“I have no problem with it being released to the public,” he said. “I’ll only say that I would have hoped, out of professional courtesy, that the EPA director would have had time to review my findings on his own before it was released.”
OEPA officials told members of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District Board of Directors in August that the landfill may have been on fire, although it appeared to be a chemical reaction.
According to Thalhamer’s findings, subsurface fire temperatures reached as high as 353 degrees and have maintained a temperature high enough to be considered a fire.
“This event has the potential to damage the engineered component unless certain steps are put into place,” his findings stated, referring to the landfill’s liner and leachate recirculation system.
He also noted he did not expect Countywide to experience “a catastrophic event,” and does not believe that there has been any compromise to the landfill’s liner system.
Furthermore, the findings stated he believed the reaction of the aluminum dross – the industrial waste product believed to cause the odors that plagued area residents and motorists in 2006 – was “self-sustaining” and actually fueling a smoldering fire in municipal waste buried alongside it.
“I believe the metal fire started sometime around November 2005 and caused the smoldering event to occur as early as February 2006 based on data supplied by (Countywide),” he wrote.
Thalhamer recommended several solutions to reduce the heat and gasses – one of which is carbon monoxide – being produced beneath the landfill. He also noted that the issue was so complex that he didn’t “believe anyone can fully understand the entire event,” and recommended bringing in professionals to examine “certain matters.”
Carbon monoxide can be extremely hazardous, the report states, but Thalhamer added he doesn’t expect anyone at the landfill to be exposed to dangerously high levels of the gas.
The Ohio EPA declined comment on Thalhamer’s findings until Korleski makes his recommendation regarding Countywide’s 2007 operating permit to the Stark County Board of Health Wednesday.
So is the public safe?
“Yes, absolutely,” Countywide General Manager Tim Vandersall said when contacted Friday about the fires.
He said he wasn’t surprised by Thalhamer’s findings and that they will not change how Countywide goes about addressing the matter.
“As I’ve said for six months, in my mind it doesn’t matter what you call it,” Vandersall said. “It’s a label. We’re going to continue treating it the same as a reaction, fire, composting or whatever.”
Vandersall said Thalhamer is one of three experts who have weighed in on whether or not the landfill is on fire. He said engineers from SCS Engineering of Cincinnati and Cornerstone Engineering of Minnesota have been monitoring the landfill for more than nine months.
He said he still believes their data, which indicates the landfill is not on fire but merely reacting, over Thalhamer’s conclusions.
Thalhamer’s e-mail stated that he “could debate the issues I professionally disagree within some of the referenced documents” which he was given for review. Those documents may include data sets provided by Countywide’s consultants.
Rep. Allan Sayre, D-Dover, said Friday night that he believes there are too many questions left unanswered at Countywide.
“For the public’s safety, we need to shut down the landfill until all of the health concerns – with the odors and now with the fires – can be addressed,” he said. “I think those issues need to be cleared up before the landfill should be allowed to open again.”
Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl said Friday that the new findings cause more concern for residents of Pike Township in Stark County and Bolivar and Wilkshire Hills residents, who live just south of the landfill in Tuscarawas County.
“What’s in the air that could possibly be affecting the residents?” Abbuhl asked. “All this time Countywide has adamantly denied any type of fire. I think it’s interesting that Mr. Thalhamer came to this conclusion that there are two fires. I hope it gives the new EPA director some direction for his recommendation on Countywide’s future.”
“All indications pointed to a fire,” said Dick Harvey of Bolivar and a board member of Club 3000. “For a long time no one believed us.”
“People are scared,” said Harvey, who lives just over a mile from the landfill. “There are gasses and airborne particles. We hope they get this thing fixed or close it down.”
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