Seven Million Tires Ablaze in California

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Seven Million Tires Ablaze in California

MODESTO, California, September 23, 1999 (ENS) - An enormous tire fire is

burning in Stanislaus County 20 miles west of Modesto. Seven million tires

covering 35 acres are ablaze sending a thick cloud of black smoke straight

up about 3,000 feet into the air.

Emergency crews from the West Stanislaus Fire Protection District responded

within moments of the initial 911 call early Wednesday morning but have been

unable to extinguish the inferno because they cannot maneuver the fire

engines close enough.

The intense blaze was started when lightning struck a metal ramp used to

move the tires, according to an employee of the company that owns the tires,

Cal-Neva Ranch Company, LLC.

Sheriff's deputy Tammy Drew, a spokesperson for the Stanislaus County

Emergency Operations Center, said, " I was within 300 feet of it. Bursts of

flame were spinning up through the column of smoke. The fire engines could

not get in to fight it. "

Crews isolated about 20 percent of the burning tires with bulldozers, and a

helicopter dropped water on this smaller fire until it was extinguished. The

remaining 80 percent is being kept from spreading to the surrounding

grasslands with backburns and firebreaks, Drew said.

It is not expected to spread to the tire burning plant operated by the UAE

Energy Operations Corp. on the same property. The smoke from the fire

continues to dissipate and has not threatened any neighboring communities

such as the small town of Westley two miles away.

Nikaido, spokesperson for San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control

Board said their monitoring stations are not picking up much of a difference

in the particulate matter levels since the fire began.

The fire is burning so hot it goes straight upwards and is dispersed in

other locations due to the light and variable winds. " Controlling it like

putting a leash on Mother Nature, " Nikaido said.

With assistance from the state, Stanislaus County has established temporary

air monitoring stations near Westley and to provide early warning

of potential problems. There are no immediate plans for evacuation unless

there are dramatic changes in the wind direction forcing smoke and ash to

low levels toward neighboring communities.

A health advisory for Stanislaus County remains in effect. People with lung

disease or asthma, heart problems or other respiratory conditions are

advised to remain indoors if smoke or haze is present.

The town of , California, about 15 miles from the burning tire pile,

had to deal with a similar fire, called the Royster fire, last summer. A

report on that fire presented in October 1998 to the state Waste Tire

Working Group said almost five million pounds of toxins, including hundreds

of thousands of pounds of cancer causing agents were released.

Reese-Chambers, an environmental consulting firm which wrote the report,

concluded the Royster fire released an estimated 323,000 pounds of benzene

into the air. Benzene is a known carcinogen that also is believed to cause

birth defects.

At eight million tires, the Royster fire was slightly larger than the

current fire. It was never completely extinguished and is still smoldering

today, almost a year later, according to Drew.

It is possible this one would continue to smolder indefinitely, Drew

speculated.

In a chronological history of how seven million tires came to be in the pile

blazing today, the " Modesto Bee " newspaper said the tires have been

collected by the pile's owner Ed Filbin since the 1950s.

An ongoing struggle with the state of California over the tire pile began

with legal action against Filbin in 1987 and continued until on August 5,

when the state waste board again ordered Filbin to clean up the pile or face

$10,000-a-day fines. On September 7, the board rejected his plea for a 30

day stay of the order. On September 22, lightning struck the Filbin pile.

The historical account is online at: http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,111

3,104393,00.html