Firefighters battle blaze at Lycoming County landfill
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at county landfill on Thursday. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Fire company tankers off-loaded their water into two portable ponds right in from the pile. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Tankers brought water directly to the burning working face file at the county's landfill on Thursday afternoon. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
It took about 30 minutes for volunteer firefighters to bring the fire under control on Thursday. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Haulers lined up at the landfill while firefighters and county employees worked to douse a fire in the work face pile on Thursday afternoon. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
More than a dozen water tankers from Lycoming and Union counties were dispatched to the landfill fire, including this one from Lewisburg. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire at county landfill on Thursday. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Fire company tankers off-loaded their water into two portable ponds right in from the pile. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Tankers brought water directly to the burning working face file at the county's landfill on Thursday afternoon. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
It took about 30 minutes for volunteer firefighters to bring the fire under control on Thursday. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
Haulers lined up at the landfill while firefighters and county employees worked to douse a fire in the work face pile on Thursday afternoon. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
More than a dozen water tankers from Lycoming and Union counties were dispatched to the landfill fire, including this one from Lewisburg. PHILIP HOLMES/Sun-Gazette
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A multiple alarm fire broke out Thursday afternoon in the working face pile at Lycoming County Resource Management Services (the county landfill), bringing more than a dozen fire company water tankers to the scene.
The fire, south of Fritz Station Road in Brady Township, broke out just before 2 p.m. and took about 30 minutes to bring under control.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation. The working face pile is where most of the residential and commercial trash collected off the streets by haulers is dumped, the Sun-Gazette was told.
Fire Company tankers drafted water from a hydrant located outside
the landfill’s main office building on Alexander Drive, less than a mile from the pile.
The tankers were then driven to the pile, where the water was off-loaded into two large portable ponds.
When the fire was discovered, county employees immediately put into action a 5,000-gallon tanker truck that is stationed at the landfill and is equipped with a nozzle that was used to spray water on the fire. Two bulldozers and two excavators were also used “to help smother the fire,” according to Donald Hassenplug, a customer material specialist at the landfill. He said county employees were at the pile when the fire broke out.
There were no reports of injuries.
About 1,200 tons of trash is dumped at the 110-acre landfill every day, Hassenplug said.
While the fire was being extinguished, haulers – bringing trash to the pile – lined up outside the landfill’s office and waited until they could resume their dumping, which was shortly after 3 p.m.
In June 2023, two separate fires broke out at the landfill in one week’s time. Those fires were also in the working face pile, which at that time was in a different field on the site.