Quick response clears black plume, smothers flames
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Thousands of shredded tires burning in a deep pit were extinguished over the weekend in a cooperative group effort. The fire at Tire Depot along U.S. Highway 93 in Pablo was called in at 5:34 a.m. Friday, April 8, according to Lake County Undersheriff Ben Woods.
“One deputy who checked on it said the flames were 100 feet high,” Woods said.
The fire fully engulfed the pit, estimated to be about 200 feet deep 100-150 yards wide, but firefighters from all local departments attempted to cool the flames with water until Treasure State Concrete began hauling in a steady stream of clay material to bury the inferno.
With a black plume spreading throughout the county, air quality was a concern.
“Friday was off the charts, but the cloud went up,” said Steve Stanley, Lake County Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator. “All in all, things went extremely well.”
Robert Moler, Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson from Helena, arrived late Friday evening and began monitoring air quality Saturday morning.
“Our data shows air quality was within safe parameters.” Moler said. “By that time first responders had contained it quite significantly.”
Moler said the teamwork was “a model for efficiency” between the owner, the contract haulers, the local firefighters, Lake County and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
“Safety is everybody’s primary concern, and it was certainly a priority on this incident,” he said.
Volunteer firefighters from Polson Rural Fire Department pulled an all-nighter Friday, spraying water on hot spots. Ronan volunteer firefighters relieved the crew at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, and the fire was completely covered by mid-morning.
“It was a horrendous fire and we hate to see it happen,” Stanley said, but added that Tire Depot owner Vern Reum was “very proactive and gave us tools to fight the fire … which made it much easier to solve the problem.”
Reum immediately approved hauling of the clay mixture needed to cover the fire and was actively involved in strategic discussions of suppressing the fire. He even purchased lunches for the firefighters, Stanley said.
Tire Depot business had another fire that erupted in September 2001 and destroyed 30,000 shredded tires, according to Reum. But this time, Reum already had an agreement in place with Treasure State Concrete.
“They just dropped everything for us, and they can be commended for that for sure,” Reum said. The haulers worked through Saturday afternoon and a bit on Sunday, bringing in load after load of clay. Firefighters returned Monday to extinguish a flare-up.
Laws require the business to cover the shredded tires with clay mixture every 90 days, but Reum is going to cover them more often now.
“We don’t know exactly what started the fire,” he said, “but we know it wasn’t anything we did to cause that fire to start.”
While the official cause of the fire is still unknown, Reum believes it could be arson.
“Tires fires don’t just happen,” he said. “The only thing that starts them is some kind of accelerant.”
