Dive Brief:
- 200 fire fighters battled a blaze at the Arizona Pacific Pulp and Paper plant in Phoenix, AZ. The fire began on Sunday.
- The fire is suspected to have started in a stack of baled cardboard held in storage at the facility, but the actual cause remains unknown at this time. The two buildings the paper was housed in did not burn.
- According to Mark Vanacore of the Phoenix Fire Department, the flames released toxins into the air, prompting environmental concerns that will be investigated by the Department of Environmental Quality.
Dive Insight:
Some landfill employees are undergoing training sessions to learn how to respond to fires that have the potential to start on-site. Workers are instructed how to handle emergency situations such as fires because a fast response time could cut down on the amount of destruction. Fire department response times average 11 minutes and firefighters often find it difficult to maneuver on the landfill itself.