Blaze ignites garbage a little early

Garbage waiting to be burned at the county incinerator catches fire. No injuries or damage is reported.

By ALISA ULFERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 7, 2000

SHADY HILLS -- Close to three dozen firefighters spent all day Thursday controlling a blaze at the county's incinerator on Hays Road, where piles of garbage caught fire while waiting to be burned.

No one was injured in the fire, which sparked before 6 a.m. Thursday, and no building damage was reported. But the smoky, odorous task of wetting down the piles and digging down to find the source of flames kept Pasco County Fire Rescue workers busy.

"At least it's not Super Bowl Sunday," said firefighter Tom Carpinone, referring to the 1998 game between the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers that firefighters missed because they were fighting another fire at the incinerator.

"We had all that food sitting at the station," Carpinone added.

At least it was cooler then. Thursday's temperatures reached 92 degrees as firefighters took turns watering the piles of smoldering trash inside the incinerator's outer building. Those coming off a turn rested under a tarp rigged near a tree while paramedics hovered nearby, monitoring the vital signs of those firefighters who already had been on call since Wednesday morning.

Inside the building was even hotter. Firefighters spent their first two hours Thursday just ventilating the building, said Tony Lopinto, acting director of the county's Emergency Management Department.

"The temperature has come down considerably from what it was when we first got here," Lopinto said.

Although few flames were visible in the thick gray smoke, Lopinto said his crews have to be careful when dealing with garbage fires because they don't know what hidden dangers -- such as illegal hazardous waste -- could lurk in the piles.

"You never know what people put in their garbage so we have to be careful," he said.

Lopinto said the cause of Thursday's fire had not been determined, but added that it did not appear suspicious and could have been a case of spontaneous combustion.

"It would all be speculation, but decomposition does create heat," Lopinto said.

Thursday's fire, the fourth at the incinerator since it opened in 1991, did not disrupt the furnaces, said Doug Bramlett, assistant county administrator for utilities. The county generates energy -- which it sells to Florida Power -- by burning waste at the incinerator, Bramlett said.

Staff writer Alisa Ulferts covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is ulferts@sptimes.com.

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