Winds cause massive compost fire
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
(Created: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:20 AM CDT)
mckinneymessenger.com
A bulldozer tries to smother the smoldering remains of a compost fire Monday afternoon at the Regional Composting Facility in Melissa. The fire started burning sometime around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. This photo and others available through Photo Gallery at www.scntx.com. Photo: Danny Gallagher | McKinney Courier-Gazette
A massive fire at the Regional Compositing Facility burned several acres of land and took more than 40 firefighters and 20,000 gallons of water just to get it under control.
The fire at the Melissa-based facility started sometime Sunday afternoon and spread throughout the compost piles due to heavy winds that fed the fire more oxygen and caused it grow to about 20 acres, city and county fire officials said.
Tim Wyatt, Collin County spokesman, said officials from the facility reported the fire around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. High winds caused the fire to expand and spread to a nearby unprocessed lumber pile.
Melissa Fire Chief Dave Wright said the fire spread to nearly 20 acres of the compost facility. Dispatchers sent nearly 48 firefighters from 10 departments along with Collin County, Texas State Emergency Management Office and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality officials to the scene of the blaze.
Wright said the massive amount of damage makes it difficult to pinpoint where the fire started.
“They’re self-igniting,” Wright said. “The compost generates heat as it decomposes, so it could have started anywhere. I had a fire on the southwest corner, but with the wind blowing north, who knows? The wind changed direction twice.”
Nancy Nevil, director of sustainability and environmental services for the city of Plano, said fires are common occurrences at the compost facility, but the winds caused Sunday’s fire to spread at a ravenous pace.
“The fire started through internal combustion,” Nevil said, “but the wind was so high and carried it so far that it spread it to several of the other piles.”
Once the wind died down, fire crews were able to contain the blaze and extinguish most of it. Nevil said a large pile of unprocessed wood also known as “overage” was still smoldering as of Monday.
“That pile continues to be a problem for us,” Nevil said. “Actually the compost piles, we pretty much have smothered those and we’re watching those and continuing to put out any fire that’s cropping up.”
Nevil said about 30 percent of the compost site was affected by the fire.
Wright said none of the structures on the facility were damaged and none of the firefighters battling the blaze or officials at the scene were injured. A Melissa brush truck sustained some minor fire damage.
Sunday’s blaze was the largest fire at the compost facility, Nevil said.
“It’s the largest fire we’ve had simply because of the piles that caught on fire,” Nevil said. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had the overage pile catch on fire.”
City and county officials are trying to determine the best way to fully extinguish the blaze. Nevil said while the flames have subsided, the heavy amount of smoke from the smoldering remains of the overage pile have made it difficult for crews to extinguish the heart of the blaze.
“Right now, we’re pretty much making sure all of the other fires on the site are kept under control and we’re waiting to see if we can get some more water on the over pile,” Nevil said. “The problem we’re trying to fight now is there’s so much smoke, we can’t get to it.”
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