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SUBSURFACE LANDFILL FIRE
SUPPRESSION AND MONITORING
A Case Study at the Campbell
Mountain Landfill, Penticton, British Columbia
By Glenn Herold, P. Eng., Landfill Gas Specialist
Sperling Hansen Associates
Vancouver, British Columbia
Introduction.
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS) operates
the Campbell Mountain Landfill, which is located just outside
of the city of Penticton, British Columbia. One of the ongoing
problems at the site has been the existence of a subsurface fire
in what is referred to as the North Ravine. The fire has reportedly
been the source of several odour complaints received at the site,
and has posed a health and safety risk to the staff and general
public.
Previous attempts
at extinguishing the fire consisted of excavating the material
and flooding it with water. Although the cost per attempt was
minimal ($5,000-$10,000 per attempt) the success was limited.
This approach also created several other problems, which are discussed
later in this paper.
Sperling Hansen Associates
(SHA) was retained in January 1998 to supervise efforts to permanently
extinguish the fire, and prevent any reoccurrence through other
means. SHA specializes in the engineering and design of solid
waste management facilities, and had previously worked on several
RDOS landfills, including the Campbell Mountain Site. Their experience
in the waste management field, along with their intimate knowledge
of the site, made them the ideal candidate to supervise the project.
In order to ensure that all parties
that had been historically involved in the program had the opportunity
to provide their input and experience, and advisory board was organized
whose purpose was to develop a comprehensive fire suppression plan
for the site. Participants of the advisory board including representatives
from:
- The Regional Fire Commissioner's
Office
- The Penticton Fire Department
- The B.C. Ministry of Environment,
Lands and Parks
- The Regional District of Okanagan
Similkameen
- Kedon Pregressive Waste Systems
(site operators, and
- Sperling Hansen Associates
The purposes of this paper are to
describe: (1) the fire suppression plan developed by the advisory
board; (2) the construction plan implemented for the installation
and monitoring of Phase 1 of the fire suppression plan; and (3)
the results of the fire suppression plan to date.
          
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the fire suppression plan
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