#Garbage truck on fire drivers#
#Garbage truck on fire driver#
#Garbage truck on fire full#

Pont said more battery-caused fires are being seen within homes, noting people need to properly charge and store their lithium batteries and ensure nothing combustible is around them. Pont said he has heard from at least one city staff member that lithium batteries are often being found in the trash. A fire at the landfill last year led to a thick, black cloud of smoke rolling over parts of Kamloops and prompting a warning for residents to stay inside. While every fire is dangerous, Pont said a garbage or landfill fire can be especially hazardous and toxic due to the unknown mix of materials that fuel them. “They could get buried in a pile of garbage, then start up later and it turns into a huge fire that’s dangerous for everyone.”

“Once that current starts arcing, it can start fires,” Pont said. Jeff Pont, the fire department’s life safety educator, said that when damaged, the batteries can create an electrical arc if up against metal like a garbage bin. 11 blaze may have been the result of the battery being crushed by the truck’s trash compacter. Kamloops Fire Rescue investigator Kevin Cassidy said firefighters have seen a few battery-caused fires in Kamloops recently, noting the Jan. Lithium-ion batteries, commonly found in smartphones, laptops, earbuds, scooters, power tools and e-cigarettes, can catch fire when crushed, punctured, ripped or dropped because they short circuit when the thin separator between their positive and negative parts is breached, according to an article from the Washington Post.

#Garbage truck on fire driver#

The driver used a fire extinguisher to extinguish the blaze and firefighters responded to douse the contents further to ensure no flare-ups. in the City of Kamloops vehicle by way of an e-bike battery pack someone had thrown away.Īccording to fire department officials, the truck driver noticed the back of the vehicle was on fire while travelling along Mission Flats Road and dumped the load of garbage he reached the landfill. All rights reserved.Kamloops Fire Rescue is warning the public to recycle their batteries following a fire in a garbage truck. “We have two garbage trucks that will be out of service for up to a year.”Ĭopyright 2022 KTVK/KPHO. “That causes a major disruption to our operation,” said Reyes.

#Garbage truck on fire full#

For a full list of items it accepts, click here.Īs temperatures heat up, the city hopes to get the word out there to prevent future garbage truck fires from sparking up. The facility is open Wednesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. The facility even has a “swap shop” where people can drop off used hazardous items like paint, cleaning products and other chemicals that Mesa residents can pick up for free.

“They can still contain enough liquid material in them that when they are compacted in our garbage trucks, it can actually cause an explosion,” said Reyes. Reyes said even if they are empty, those items can catch fire or explode. Items like batteries, aerosol cans, pool chemicals and propane gas tanks should be dropped off at the Mesa Hazardous Materials Facility. “We want residents to know that hazardous materials never should go in a trash or container,” said Mariano Reyes with the City of Mesa Environmental Management and Sustainability. City officials said there have been six garbage truck fires in the last two months because people are throwing away hazardous materials in the trash.

#Garbage truck on fire drivers#

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - Garbage trucks in Mesa are catching fire, creating dangerous conditions for truck drivers and the community.