Date post: | 19-Aug-2015 |
Category: |
Environment |
Upload: | isoswo |
View: | 9 times |
Download: | 1 times |
1
Waste Fires
Overview
• Types• Causes• Assessments
3
Frequency of Waste Fires
1. Landfills (Closed/Operating LF and Transfer Stations)
2. Wood/Sawdust Storage
3. C&D Facilities
4. Tire Facilities
5. Recycling Facilities
4Source: Opinion of Mr. Thalhamer, P.E.
Toxicity of Waste Fires
1. Tire, Recyclable-Plastic
2. Landfill
3. C&D
4. Wood/Sawdust
5
Safe Operations
6
Safe Operations?
7
Overview LF
8
LF Fire Hazards?• Waste Type (Asbestos, HHW, Radiological,
Cont Soils, Auto Shredder Fluff, Reactives, etc.)• Equipment• LF Gasses• LF Operations
– Working Face– New Roads– Tipping Floor
• LF Engineering Controls• Confined Spaces
9Source: www.usepa.gov
How Much Trash Per Year
• In the US– 251 million Tons/year (CA 36% waste stream)
• Per Truck @ 20 Tons = 12.5 million loads
10
MSW a Fuel?Solid waste is a high energy fuel:• MSW ~ 4,000 to 7,000 BTU/lb• Demolition/Land-Clearing/Construction ~
6,500 BTU/lb• Paper ~ 7,000 BTU/lb • Wood ~10,000 BTU/lb. • Most plastics are in the 15,000 to 22,000
BTU/lb • Gasoline ~ 15,000 to 22,000 BTU/lb
11
What size is your working face
Why?• If one gallon of water absorb ~ 9,300 BTU
and you have1000 ton working face• How many gallons of water in theory
would you need to suppress a fire if the entire working face was involved?
• Theory would have it at 1.075 M gallons• Using four fire engines at 1000 gpm (deck)• 4.4. hours of fire flow.
12
Do you even have a hydrant?
• Where is the nearest fire hydrant?• What is the flow?• How do you support 4000 gpm?• Can your water district handle the fire flow?• Can your water truck connect into a fire
engine?• Can you see the dominoes lining up?
13
Perception
• Landfill Operators vs. Regulatory • Fire Service vs. Landfill Operators• Community vs. Landfill Operators• Fire Service vs. Regulatory• Fire Service Resources? Vol/Paid• Water Source / Soil Source• Pre Plan
VIDEO
14
Categories• Landfill Fire
– Surface Fire– Subsurface/Underground Fire [AKA SSE]
15
Terminology
• Landfill Fires [Both Surface and Underground]
– Industry Term– 1st substantial paper in 1984, Sterns and
Petoyan, Identifying and Controlling Landfill Fires, Waste Management Research
– Later became “How to Find and Treat Subsurface Fires”, Waste Age 1984
16
Definitions
• Landfill Fire / Subsurface Fire / Underground Fire• ROSE• SOE• Chemical Reaction• Pyrolysis• Puff the Magic Dragon (yes this has been used)
• All the same? YESSuggestion …
If the fire is subsurface, call your issue a “smoldering event”
17
Cause of surface LF Fires
• Embers in a hot load• Careless smoking• Reactive substances• Methane flash from equipment spark• Spontaneous Combustion• Lightning Strike• Arson
18Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com
Reactive Sawdust Load, Calgary
19Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com
Magnesium Chloride, Waste Connection, Ore.
20
Aluminum Dross
21
Subsurface
• Material burning below the surface in a waste pile
• Typically in C&D facilities and dump sites• Will find “worm holes” in the waste
22
Subsurface Fire
23
Subsurface Fire
• Difficult to locate• Extinguishment is time consuming• Create “worm holes”
24
Worm Hole
25
Subsurface Fire
26
Causes of Subsurface Fires
• Spontaneous combustion• Inadequate cover• Over Pulling of a GCS system• Air/Oxygen intrusion through
fissures or other features• Previous surface fire• Disposal of reactive materials
27
Subsurface Fire Locations
• Typically fires at LF w/GCS are at slopes or grade breaks where the compaction and depth of soil is less than the main deck
• Or can occur at the well head if no seal is present
28
Does the facility have a GCS
• This will help you determine the cause, extent and magnitude of the fire– LF fire with GCS are generally caused by over
pulling
• Watch out for subsurface fires w/o GCS– Barometric influence and extended burning
29
Most Common Cause Subsurface Fires/Smoldering Events
• Overpulling of a gas collection systemWhich system is better? Fire side/Waste side
30Source: CalRecycle - Thalhamer
Detecting a SE• Substantial settlement over a short time• Smoke or smoldering odor emanating from the
gas extraction system or landfill • Levels of CO in excess of 1000 ppmv• Combustion residue in wells and/or headers• Increase in gas temperature in the extraction
system (above 140° F or large ΔT)• Temperatures in excess of 165 ° F• Oddities???
31
Settlement Due to SE
32Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com
Collapse Feature Carmon Landfill – Israel
33Source: Tony Sperling - Landfillfire.com
Combustion Residue
34
Venting with smoke
35
Ventingwithout smoke
Temperature is your evidence
Temperature is +485 F
36
Elevated Temperature
37
Prevention
• Look for gravel pathways i.e. access roads
• Ensure soil compaction on slope• Additional Cover > 1ft (low
permeability soil)– Occurrence of UF, consider final cover
• Decrease extraction rate or shut down
• Increase monitoring frequency• Prevent air intrusion through
maintenance and well seals
38
Prevention – Additional Soil
• Min Perm of 1x10-6
• Max particle size 3 inches• Classified SC, ML, CL, CH• Extend cover min 10 ft• Min cover 24 inches• Max lift 9 inches
39
• Type O [not ICS term, Thalhamerism]
– Operational in nature, handled by operator ($0 to $10K)• Type 5
– Visible smoke, additional resources, 911 called, 1 to 8 hours of suppression (1 Business Day) activities ($10K to $100K)
• Type 4– 8 to 24 hours of suppression activities ($100K to $250K)
• Type 3– Up to one week of suppression activities ($250K to $1M)
• Type 2– More than a week of suppression activities ($1M to $2M)
• Type 1– More than a month of suppression activities ($2M to +$5M)
LF Fire Types (Per ICS)
40
Type O
41
Forward LF, CA
• Type O – Small handled by LF Resources• NSPS exception – Oxygen at 15% in GCS• Seven landfill fires in less than 18 months• Cause - gas migration in two probes• Overdraw issue
42
Type 5 - LF Fire
43
Type 4
44
Type 3 – LF Fire
45
Type 2/1 – LF Fire Fresno
46
Type 1 – Helotes, TX
47
Type 1 - Panama