SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — A fire that broke out in a massive tire pile in Nicholas County on Christmas Eve continues to burn, but its size has greatly diminished. At one point it was estimated about 1 million tires were in the burning pile at the West Virginia Tire Disposal operation near the community of Gilboa along Route 39.
Local firefighters have pulled out and the scene is now being run by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Contractors are on site under the supervision of the DEP, trying to remove the smoldering tires from the pile and put each of them out individually. Rusty Joins, chief of homeland security and emergency response for the DEP said it’s complicated work.
“Pulling tires out of the active fire, spraying them down and quenching them in a container of water. Once they are deemed cool enough using thermal imaging cameras, they move them to a tire stockpile,” Joins explained.
The exact depth of the pile is not known, and many of the tires are smoldering and burst into flames once overturned by an excavator.
“They’ve had that happen a few times. They’ll dig into an area and it will flare up once the oxygen reaches the hot tires,” Joins said.
According to Joins, there are a lot of unknown variables to extinguish the fire — and those variables make it hard to know when the fire will be declared completely out.
The agency is also investigating the site operator to determine what, if any, citations the company might face for violations stemming from the fire. The company was already under scrutiny by the DEP before the fire. A number of areas of non-compliance were identified in the two most recent inspection reports. Both are currently tied up in court. Because of the nature of pending litigation, DEP officials would not comment on the alleged violations.
The two most recent DEP inspection reports on the property found similar areas of non-compliance. Fire control, on-site equipment, tire disposal, intermediate cover, and final cover were all considered unsatisfactory in both inspection reports. Another area of non-compliance with the investigation was mandated monitoring and reporting. Indications were the company failed to comply in those areas as well.
“Fire Control – The size of waste tire storage piles has diminished but remains larger than the 50’ (L) x 50’
(W) x 15’ (H) size requirements allowed per 33CRS5 – 3.5.e.3) ”
“((22) Equipment – The loader remains out of service (transmission pump). The excavator has been out of
service since 10/27/2021, mechanic is diagnosing the problem. One of two dozers is out of service. The
shearer runs, but still is unable to completely dissect tires. The shredder remains out of service. Both
rock trucks and the forklift are operable,”
The December inspection resulted in orders for compliance to the company from the state inspector:
A. WVTD shall continue to remove no less than four box trailers a week of tires off property.
B. WVTD should insure the construction and maintenance of an adequate access road.
C. Insure all dumpsters, dozers, and other heavy equipment is up and running.
D. Make progress getting shredded tires into the proper disposal facility.
Officials will not say if those orders were followed because of pending litigation over previous violations.