Marion firefighters extinguish trash truck blaze
The next time a burning trash truck travels down the streets of Marion looking for a place to dump, city officials ask that waste be dumped on a city side street rather than on private property.
The Marion Fire Department extinguished burning trash Friday dumped in the Christian church parking lot at 140 N. Elm.
The incident occurred after a City of Florence trash truck entered Marion en route to the county-owned transfer station located on the west edge of the city.
"Flames were shooting out the back of the truck," said Harvey Sanders, public works director. "The driver couldn't see it until they were flagged down."
The truck driver then dumped the trash in the parking lot so firefighters could extinguish the blaze.
The cause of the fire was unknown, said Marion Police Chief Michel Soyez.
"It could have been caused by hazardous waste or it could have been something like fireplace ashes," Soyez said. "But once you dump the contents, and then it's spread out and sprayed, it's pretty hard to determine where it started and what caused it."
Soyez told commissioners the city had no involvement in the decision to dump the trash in the church parking lot.
"This was not one of our trash trucks and we had no involvement other than citizen safety," Soyez said. "But it was our obligation to help the church out."
Both Sanders and Soyez agreed it was necessary to empty the truck's contents in order to extinguish the fire. However, they would have preferred it be dumped on a city side street rather than on private property.
"We'll need to let other cities' jurisdictions know what our policies are, and our policies will have to adjust as this transfer station gets going," Soyez said.
The chief indicated the church's parking lot was a "very nice one," and church officials had concerns about the asphalt being ruined.
"The street sweeper is a heavy vehicle and they were concerned the load would ruin the asphalt," Soyez said. "As it was brooms were used."
Sanders said the parking lot was washed off and debris was then cleared from the street.
Mayor Eloise Mueller questioned why the truck was traveling through the city on its way to the transfer station and said it may be necessary to require trash trucks to utilize U.S.-56.
