BELLA VISTA -- An end to the underground fire on Trafalgar Road is still months away, an Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality official said Thursday.
Stuart Spencer, associate director of air quality with the department, gave a 30-minute slide presentation at Riordan Hall to show the agency's plan for containing the fire and then excavating the site.
Air quality results
The latest air quality results from testing equipment at Fire Station No. 2 and near Cooper Elementary School showed readings of “good” from April 3-10. The results were posted Tuesday to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s Bella Vista Community Information Page. An air quality index of 0 to 50 is considered “good,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency says the air quality index is a yardstick running from 0 to 500. The higher the air quality index value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern.
Source: Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
Firefighters discovered the underground fire at the closed stump dump July 29.
Tables were set up Thursday staffed by various state agencies. Officials handed out information and answered questions from residents after Spencer spoke. Representatives of ADEQ, the Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Department of Human Services, the 61st Civil Support Team of the Arkansas National Guard and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management and the National Weather Service in Little Rock attended the forum.
Phase one work, which started April 4, should be done by April 26, barring weather delays, according to ADEQ. The work included building an access road to the site and a weir.
Phase two work will begin soon after that. The goal is to have the fire contained in 30 days and to start to dig up the site after that, Spencer said. Work will include sorting and separating waste, dealing with waste wood, removing waste that can't be burned and, finally, site restoration.
The state hopes to have all the work done in 180 days, he said.
"What we needed to hear was when, and he put that into perspective," Mayor Peter Christie said. "Many of the people I talked with afterward said the timeline was key. That's what a lot of people were looking for."
The department received $20 million, drawn from state government reserve money, to get work started on putting out the fire. The cost to extinguish the fire and clean the site could be between $21 million and $39 million, according to state estimates.
The plan was looked at for its viability, the timeline to get the work done, the cost, further impact on residents and whether it was environmentally sound, Spencer said.
John Hopfner said he lives about a mile from the site. He said Spencer's presentation was informative. Hopfner mentioned he was concerned about his health because of the fire. He also said he has a grandson who lives near Fire Station No. 2 on Trafalgar Road. He has been unable to go outside and play, Hopfner said.
"Everyone is ready for this to be resolved," he said.
Letitia Washburn of Bella Vista said there were no real surprises at the forum.
"It's good to have a timeline; that put a lot of questions to rest," she said. "Regardless of the fix, it's frustrating."
The site must be excavated to ensure the underground fire is extinguished and won't reignite, ADEQ personnel said last month. Excavation will occur during daylight hours and in 12-hour periods, Spencer said.
Most of the waste in the landfill is expected to be wood waste, according to the department's statement. It'll be disposed of on-site using specialized equipment to keep as much of the smoke as possible from rising and escaping, according to a state news release.
Burn boxes will operate 24 hours a day and up to five units at a time will be used, Spencer told the crowd.
Tom Judson, the Bella Vista Property Owners Association's chief operating officer, has said the association operated the dump on leased land from December 2003 to Dec. 31, 2016, when it was covered with soil.
Nobody monitored the site the last few years it was open, but staff members would remove trash when possible, Judson has said. The property is now owned by Brown's Tree Care.
Spencer said ADEQ would pursue cost recovery after the situation is resolved. "That will happen," he said.
NW News on 04/19/2019