(La Porte, IN) - A still smoldering composting pile fire in La Porte flared back up with two separate responses from firefighters after they had wrapped up their five days of around the clock duties at the La Porte County Solid Waste District facility.

 

Firefighters responded Saturday and Sunday for a few hours each time after the fire knocked down substantially came roaring back.

 

Assistant Fire Chief Kelly Burke said much of the pile operated by the La Porte County Solid Waste District had been dismantled, spread out and soaked with water prior to firefighters leaving about 7 a.m. Friday.

 

The flare ups were in a section of the pile still intact and generating heat from decaying grass clippings, leaves, branches and trees below ground level. What’s left is roughly one-third the original size of the burning pile along Zigler Road near the La Porte County Fairgrounds.

 

“There’s still quite a bit of material there,” Burke said.

 

The district is now in charge of contacting local contractors to have their heavy machinery operators return and take apart what’s left of the pile so that burning material can be drenched in water.

 

“We’re going to try to not be there unless the operators that are there need us,” he said.

 

La Porte County Solid Waste District Executive Director Clay Turner said he expects the backhoes and excavators used extensively last week to return soon to finish dismantling the pile.

 

“We’re going to have to probably start that in a couple of days,” he said.

 

The composting site is open to the public for dumping yard waste and used by the La Porte County Highway Department for disposing of fallen trees and limbs.

 

No dumping of any green waste has been allowed since the beginning of the fire on September 21st.  When the composting site will accept organic material again has not been decided.

 

Turner said strategies that could include restricting the size of the pile by accepting less yard waste will be developed to keep such fires from happening again.

 

Currently, Turner said the amount of compost and mulch sold to the public from the pile along with firewood is far less than the volume of green waste disposed of at the site.

 

“We take in way more than we can get rid of,” he said.

 

Turner said another possibility is reducing the number of days the site is open for yard waste disposal from six to three.

 

“There’s going to be all kinds of options on the table and we’ll review what we think is best for our community and for our site,” he said.

 

Turner said he’s already begun efforts to see if the district’s insurance carrier will cover the cost of things like the heavy machinery operators for their work at the site.  The amount of that expense was still being tallied.

 

“Somebody’s got to pay for that and we’re hoping the insurance pays for it,” he said.

 

The site has reopened for disposing electronics and other things like styrofoam and cardboard in trailers and dumpsters several hundred feet from the composting pile.