By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
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SANDY RIDGE — Volunteer firefighters from Northside Volunteer Fire Department responded Sunday evening to a report of a blaze at the Richmond County landfill.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
The emergency call for assistance came in at 5:23 p.m. Northside, as well as the North Carolina Forest Service, sent personnel to the landfill, located at 191 Walter Kelly Road. The sprawling facility is located between Cartledge Creek Road and U.S. Route 220 off of Dockery Road.
The Forest Service brought in a bulldozer but it was not needed on scene. By 6:20 p.m., firefighters had the fire, which was in one section of mulch piled high, well under control. In fact, firefighters saw not flames but largely smoke from the within the mulch pile. Rockingham Fire Department responded to another call near the Philadelphia community while Northside volunteers were at the landfill.
Jerry Austin Jr., Richmond County’s solid waste manager, said fires such as this one occur about this time each year. The conditions are just right, he said, for spontaneous combustion. The landfill has several piles of mulch totaling approximately 2,500 tons. Austin said the mulch is available to the public for $5 per truckload.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
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