LAPORTE — It could be several more days before a fire at a large public composting pile is extinguished.
Firefighters with help from about a dozen excavators and backhoe operators on Sept. 24 appeared to be getting a handle on the fire burning since Sept. 21.
LaPorte Fire Department Capt. Zach Kanney said heavy equipment digging into the material is finding hotspots as deep as 15 to 20 feet into the pile of old decaying leaves, grass clippings and logs.
Once exposed, the burning material is spread on the ground and doused with water, mostly from aerial trucks, Kanney said.
“It does seem like we’re getting ahead of it,” he said.
The whole pile of compost along Zigler Road near the LaPorte County Fairgrounds is more than 1,000 feet long, and an area about 150 feet long and 200 feet wide is burning.
It could be up to a week before the fire is completely extinguished, Kanney said, because a good-sized portion of the pile had not been torn into yet by the machinery provided by local contractors and operated by their employees.
“There’s just an enormous amount of material to move through and sift through and put water on,” LaPorte Assistant Fire Chief Kelly Burke said.
The fire is monitored around the clock, with some firefighters working the blaze on their days off to bolster manpower, Kanney said.
“We bring in fresh guys when we can,” he said.
Help has also been provided by firefighters from other surrounding agencies.
The composting pile belongs to the LaPorte County Solid Waste District, which allows residents to dump their yard waste there at no cost.
The site accepts other forms of organic material, such as fallen trees and limbs removed from roads by the LaPorte County Highway Department after storms.
Compost from the pile is sold at $15 per cubic yard, while mulch is $20 per cubic yard.
The amount of water used on the fire had topped seven million gallons, LaPorte Water Department Superintendent Tim Werner said.
There is no risk of running out of water, as the system has a capacity to deliver as much as 12 million gallons of water per day, Werner said.
Only about half of that capacity is being used on the fire and to service regular customers, he said.
The higher demand is causing a slight drop in water pressure, along with discolored water for just a small percentage of customers, Werner said.
The discoloration is caused from iron built up on the inside of pipes breaking loose from water moving through the system at higher speeds due to the increased demand, he said.
The LaPorte County Emergency Management Agency is also providing a trailer at the scene housing donations of food and water for firefighters from local businesses.
In addition, EMA is providing battery charging stations for radios, along with spotlights to allow the work to continue throughout the night.
“We’re here just to support everybody,” said LaPorte County EMA Director Rob Sabie.
An air quality alert was issued Monday for LaPorte County because of heavy smoke from the burning pile drifting into neighboring areas. It will remain in effect until the fire is extinguished, Sabie said.
People with breathing difficulties should close their windows and not go outside until the alert has been lifted, he said.
“Stay out of it if you have respiratory issues,” he said.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Stubborn LaPorte compost fire may continue burning up to a week, fire official says
Reporting by Stan Maddux / South Bend Tribune
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