Case Histories

Campbell Mountain Landfill Case History
Delta Shake and Shingle Case History

Vancouver Landfill Case History

Smoke was observed at the Vancouver Landfill on Wednesday, October
18th, 2000. It was quickly established that an 8m (24ft) thick layer of construction  demolition waste was on fire in  an 80 by 700m cell. Within hours Porschner Construction,  the landfill earthmoving  contractor mobilized three off-road Mac  dump trucks to deliver  water to the site. Each  truck delivered a fire fighting payload of 20,000 litres (5,000 U.S. gallons). The trucks were operated around the clock.

With smoke and steam continuing to emanate from several vents on the landfill surface, the fire investigation team from LandfillFire Control Inc. was contacted on Friday morning. Within the hour an emergency assessment team was on the way to the fire site. A bar hole punch grid was quickly established to monitor temperature and landfill gas composition including carbon monoxide, oxygen, methane and hydrogen sulphide. All steam and smoke vents on the landfill surface were also flagged and surveyed to establish exact locations. As elevated CO levels and high O2 levels were detected, a water line capable of delivering up to 1,000 gpm was established to the fire site and a high capacity fire monitor was mobilized.

To cut off the oxygen supply to the fire, additional clay intermediate cover was placed on the side slopes of the burning cell over the weekend. Water application continued around the clock. Within a week the monitoring results conclusively demonstrated that carbon monoxide, temperature and oxygen levels were dropping. The fire was declared extinguished on Friday, October 27th. Total extinguishments costs were approximately $80,000 Cdn.

A forensic review established that the fire was triggered by spontaneous combustion of the demolition, land clearing and construction (DLC) materials. Gaps in the intermediate cover soil allowed entry of oxygen into the waste, promoting high temperature aerobic decomposition, exothermic pyrolysis, and eventually a full scale fire.

Rapid response by the City of Vancouver, Porschner Construction and the LandfillFire Control Inc. team resulted in quick control of the fire and full extinguishment in less than two weeks.

Copyright 2018 LandfillFire Control Inc.

Mack truck delivering 5,000 gallons of water.

Skid mounted monitor delivers 200 gpm.

LandfillFire Control Inc. technician installing gas probe.