Dive Brief:
- At least one fire a year ignites at the St. Landry Parish Solid Waste Disposal District landfill in Washington, LA. During the last fire, equipment worth $500,000 was destroyed, prompting the landfill to start fire training program for employees.
- Employees at the landfill received instruction from safety trainers, and learned how to successfully extinguish blazes based on a variety of different materials.
- With an average response time of over 11 minutes, the fire department arrives on the scene at each landfill fire, but it says there is sometimes little it can do by that time: The flames often spread fast and their equipment can't handle the site properly.
Dive Insight:
Fire District Chief Ray Mendenhall told Daily World that National Fire Protection rules consider the landfill a hazardous waste site. If hoses touch the trash, the equipment must be replaced. Since firefighters find it difficult to use their equipment to fight fires at the landfill, the workers converted the hydrofeeder, usually used to spray water onto the waste, into a foam sprayer. The foam is biodegradable solution that can be used to douse flames with foam. Firefighters can now therefore use the sprayer instead of their hose to extinguish a blaze.
This isn't the first time landfills have taken on public service duties. Last year, California's Antioch Police Department began a program that requested help of Republic Waste workers and the postal service. Employees were trained to report crime and unusual activity they observed while on routes. While no workers were issued firearms, they were given more responsibilities in response to the department's patrol officer shortage.
