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Show Down in the Dump by Nan Chalat Park City's Sanitary Landfill Land-fill is located on the south side of Route 248 East halfway between Prospector Square and Kimball's Junction. Junc-tion. Visible from Route 248 and Highway 40 the landfill sits in a small valley so that it is not directly visible from town. Travelers along Route 40 however find the landfill hard to miss. Plagued with accidental fires and fanned by high winds the landfill, when burning, fills the valley with smoke. The smoke spreads out over Route 40 to Kimball's Junction and is then contained there by the hills. Complaints about the resultant air pollution have been particularly numerous this spring. Sanitary Landfill by definition defini-tion precludes open burning. The complaints, reached Summit County Sanitation Officer Steve Jenkins who set about investigating' the cause of the fires, "we have two major problems here. Hot ashes from wood stoves sit in a dumpster and then catch two days later. We also have the problem of the firebug - unauthorized people peo-ple who think they are doing . us a favor by setting fire to the trash. The City is going to tighten up its maintenance to prevent this situation." said Jenkins. Three weeks ago Jenkins met with Park City Officials about the open burning problem and subsequently sub-sequently the Fire Department Depart-ment was called in to dig out the smouldering rubbish. 60,000 gallons of water were poured into the landfill but according to the Record's observations this week the problem persists. The dump is officially open from 9 until 5pm Monday through Saturday. There is a minimum charge of $1 per pickup load. Fred Fuelling monitors the incoming traffic for the City. "We are constantly fighting the fire problent here, "says Fuelling. Fuel-ling. "As long as you have this kind of rubbish -particularly paint and tar from the construction industry indus-try - you have a problem." According to Fuelling these highly combustible materials release methane gas when compacted. If the gas comes into contact with smouldering smoulder-ing ash or even the exhaust from a truck there is a possibility of combustion. The City and . the County agree that half the problem stems from unauthorized dumping while the dump is closed. A concerted effort by members of the community to report offenders would help. The open burning presents an unattractive introduction to visitors approaching ap-proaching Park i City from Route 40 and is also a health hazard to residents of Kimball's Kim-ball's junctions. |
