The Bella Vista Property Owners Association reports on its website today that it believes the long-burning stump dump fire has been extinguished.
The posting:
The major activities completed on June 3 were related to clearing the western and northern portions of the Site and operating the air curtain. Rainfall the day before and early morning hours of today added to the wet site conditions.
No fire, no smoke, and no elevated temperature readings from the surface of the site were apparent. A drone flight today, June 4th, also confirmed no hot spots above background. Therefore, the fire has been extinguished and no hot spots are apparent. A formal notice to ADEQ is being prepared.
The site activity is now related to stabilization and protecting off-site property and the environment as the final effort of the emergency response action.
No hazardous substances or hazardous waste were identified to date; only a few tires, a mattress, pieces of metal siding and pipe have been discovered in the debris. These items have been separated for off site disposal.
The Air Curtain Technology (reconstructed on June 1st as an approximate 30 ft x 12 ft x 15 ft deep configuration) continues to operate well with no indications of off site elevated particulate measurements above action levels.
Some water discharge is occurring from the Site primarily associated with storm water discharge. The aeration system and fresh water add was stopped because no fire fighting water has been used on the Site in several days. Water samples are collected daily from the discharge point of the weir.
Air monitoring was performed before, during, and after the daily work consistent with the Air Monitoring, Noise Monitoring, and Hazard Communication Plan. The air quality measurements from June 3 show no elevated concentrations of particulate above the action levels.
From this point forward, the air quality forecast is expected to be a “unhealthy for sensitive groups” air quality index and higher, as defined by EPA. This is an improvement over prior forecasts.
It is proposed that daily reporting moves to a bi-weekly basis on Monday and Thursday given the reduction in site activity and the success in addressing the fire.
This work has been completed in accordance with the requirements of the Settlement Agreement.
State officials will presumably confirm the findings.
In early May the POA took responsibility for extinguishing the fire in what had long been used as a dump for the community, but had been closed in 2016. It supposedly was used only to dump organic material, but evidence of other material was found and that led to concerns about what was being put into the air by the fire.
The state had set aside $20 million for the project. Facing the likelihood that the state would attempt to recoup its costs and believing it could do the project cheaper, the project developed by Cooper Communities decided to step in.
The BVPOA posted drone footage Monday from the cleanup project.