Micronesia Environment Services LLC’s James Benavente, second left, with lawmakers at the Marpi landfill in Aug. 2020.
A SMOLDERING piece of trash caused a fire at the Marpi Landfill on Monday the Department of Public Works reported.
According to DPW, “A fire incident broke out at the Marpi Landfill tipping floor” at 11:30 a.m. on July 31.
Employees of the landfill contractor, Micronesia Environmental Services LLC, put the fire under control by pouring sand and dirt on the flames, the report added.
The fire “was presumed to be a concealed hot load brought onto the tipping floor and disposed of into the bin container.”
The fire was immediately extinguished, and the incident did not cause any injury, the report stated.
James Benavente of Micronesia Environmental Services said burned coconuts were found in the hot-load.
He said the coconuts could burst into flame if they were still smoldering, blown by wind, and surrounded by highly combustible materials like dry leaves or papers.
According to the incident report, DPW-Solid Waste employees were reminded to visually inspect all incoming waste prior to discharging at the bin container.
In an interview on Thursday, DPW Secretary Ray Yumul said if the bin containing the smoldering piece of trash wasn’t stopped at the receiving section, the fire could have spread.
He is thankful for MES for having a system in place that can deal with smoldering trash.
Yumul said this has been a longstanding concern, especially at the landfills on Rota and Tinian where there are no facilities to segregate and hold the incoming load for a certain amount of time to make sure nothing in it is smoldering.
