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June 4, 2008

Compost ignites, smolders into evening

Transcript Staff Writer

Norman firefighters battled a burning, self-ignited compost heap fire Wednesday afternoon at the City of Norman compost facility on Jenkins Avenue just south of State Highway 9.

About a dozen firefighters fought the fires standing atop several tall piles of mulch and using two engines, several brush pumpers and other support vehicles. EMSStat paramedics also stood by, as the firefighters continued their skirmish with the mulch into the evening and the mulch piles continued to smolder.

Facility personnel said it's not uncommon for fires to break out in the mulch piles as they warm up while decomposing into compost. But when the small self-ignited fires have brisk south winds to fan those flames, they can spread fast.

"Nobody added anything to it, it just combusted," said heavy equipment operator Louis Almaraz, who works daily at the Compost Facility.

Winds reported Wednesday evening by the National Weather Service were blowing from 23 to 30 miles per hour and gusting to 38 mph.

Almaraz said small fires had been going all day long. Often when there are small fires, crews are able to extinguish them by covering them up, he said. But this time, the wind kicked up the fires.

"When the wind picks up, there is nothing you can do about it," Almaraz said, but he said this is the worst fire in at least a year.

The mulch piles that were on fire were southwest of the Norman Animal Shelter, but the shelter didn't appear to be threatened.

Carol Cole-Frowe 366-3538 ccole@normantranscript.com

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