Large Fire At DB Waste Landfill Wednesday Night (PHOTOS)

A large fire broke out at DB Waste Landfill in north Bismarck around 6 pm on Wednesday, September 30th.  The thick smoke could be seen from 20 plus miles away, and prompted the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department to close 34th Street Northwest to keep the public safe.  This gave us a small taste of what it's like to live in California.  However, we've certainly become accustom to the smoke smell over the last month.

I was sitting in the Cenex gas station parking lot in Lincoln, and I couldn't believe the dark black smoke.  It wasn't long with those 40 miles per hour wind gusts from the northwest, and the smoke smell reached my home south of Lincoln.  The smell was absolutely overwhelming,

DB Waste Landfill is a commercial and not a public landfill.  They bury a lot of wind turbine blades and tires.  That's why you saw the heavy black smoke.  The resin used in the making of wind turbine blades is extremely flammable when melted down.  Not to mention a tire fire is always a hard fire to put out.  The fire reportedly forced some homeowners from their homes because of the air quality.  However, no structures were reported damaged.  The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.  It might be a number of things, but it could be something as simple as a piece of glass igniting a tire.  Thankfully, it did not start up a grass fire.  A combination of last nights strong winds and our very dry conditions in Bismarck Mandan, that could've been a very bad situation.