Dive Brief:

• There has been an emergency plan established for residents of Bridgeton, MO in case of an emergency at the landfill. An underground fire smoldering at the site is inching toward radioactive waste buried at the adjacent West Lake landfill.
• As a precaution, residents are urged to stock food and water at their homes in case of an emergency at the landfill. 
• The plan calls for the community to stay in place in the event that an evacuation of the landfill is put into action.

Dive Insight:

Even as experts contracted by the Missouri DNR report the underground blaze is growing in mass and heading closer to the radioactive waste, the owners of the Bridgeton landfill -- Republic Services -- maintain that the fire is under control.

In fact, the companies go as far as to claim the fire has actually changed directions, and is moving away from the nuclear materials buried at the nearby site. A spokesperson for Republic Services said the chance of the fire moving toward the nuclear waste was insignificant.