- Author
- Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Title
- Landfill Fires.
- Coporate
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emmitsburg, MD
- Journal
- Topical Fire Research Series, Vol. 1, No. 18, 1-3, March 2001
- Distribution
- For more information about Topical Fire Research Series contact: Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/nfdc/tfrs.htm AVAILABLE FROM: U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 16825 South Seton Ave., Emmitsburg, MD 21727. Telephone: 301-447-1000. Website: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/
- Keywords
- landfills | fire losses | fire statistics | costs | case histories
- Identifiers
- each year, an average of 8,300 landfill fires causes up to $8 million in propertly loss. Few casualties result from these fires; landfill fires are most prevalent in the spring and summer months, when there is a greater chance of spontaneous combustion; landfill fires include not only refuse, but vehicles, structures, and surrounding brush and grass; fires at discarded tire sites produce large amounts of oil and smoke and are difficult to contain and extinguish; matches, open fire, and hot embers/ashes are the leading forms of heat ignition; cause of more than half of landfill fires is not reported; 40% are attributed to arson