Vancouver Landfill Case History
Delta Shake and Shingle Case History

Campbell Mountain landfill Case History

Throughout the 1990's, the Campbell Mountain Landfill was plagued by reoccurring subsurface landfill fires in the area referred to as the North Ravine. Previous attempts to extinguish the fire consisted of excavating the material and flooding it with water. Although the cost per attempt was minimal, the success was limited.

In 1998, Sperling Hansen Associates were retained to supervise efforts to permanently extinguish the fire, and to prevent ant reoccurrence through other means. Through co-operative efforts with representatives from the regulatory body, the local government and the Fire Commissioner's office, a progressive three phase fire suppression plan was developed.

The first Phase of the suppression plan, which consisted of installing an impervious clay cap over the landfill crest in conjunction with shotcrete seals along the bedrock interface edges, was constructed in the summer of 1998. All staff involved in the construction program were required to follow the protocols laid out in a detailed Health and Safety Plan created specifically for this project.

To access the effectiveness of the cover system, a series of eight boreholes were installed in and around the north ravine. Thermistor strings, which consist of a series of temperature sensors connected at approximately 5 metre intervals to a cable, were installed in each of the boreholes to measure the subsurface temperature gradients. Screened wells were also installed in each borehole so that gas concentration measurements, in particular carbon monoxide concentrations, could be taken.

Monthly temperatures and quarterly gas composition measurements continue to be taken as part of an ongoing environmental monitoring program. The results to date indicate that the clay barrier and shotcrete seal have successfully cut off the oxygen supply to the fire zone, and that in turn the fire is subsiding. In particular, the temperature results directly around the original fire have followed a downward trend since the installation of the cover. As a result, Phases 2 and 3 of the fire suppression program have been put on indefinite hold.

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Installation of the Monitoring Wells.

Sealing the fractured bedrock using shotcrete.

Continued on site Monitoring.