A fire at a landfill outside Birmingham, Alabama, has been declared an emergency by the St. Clair County Commission, reports Birmingham News.
Owned by Environmental Landfill Inc., Trussville, Alabama, the landfill includes primarily green waste. The fire was first reported to the Moody Fire Department Nov. 25 and has blanketed northern suburbs of Birmingham with smoke.
The emergency declaration clears the way for local officials to access money and create a plan to manage the fire, which is mostly underground, reports Birmingham News.
“It kind of reminds me of Yellowstone,” St. Clair County Commission Chairman Batemon tells Birmingham News. “You walk around on it, and there [are] fume holes; there’s cracks in the ground, and steam and smoke coming out of it; and if you look down in there you see a roaring fire.”
The vote by county commissioners to declare an emergency was unanimous. Batemon told Birmingham News the fire covers an area of about 25 acres.
The Birmingham News quoted St. Clair County Attorney James Hill as saying during a commissioners meeting that “in order to effectively and correctly address this situation, it will be incumbent upon the state of Alabama and/or the federal government to provide funds necessary to address this particular emergency. These funds are going to need to come from a place other than our local governments.”
As a green waste landfill, the site is not regulated by the state of Alabama, but Alabama Department of Environmental Management and firefighters have told Birmingham News that they have found some unauthorized waste, such as tires and appliances at the site.
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