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Fire extinguished at large wood compost pile in Morris Township

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A fire that started Monday afternoon in a large wood compost pile on Hopkins Run Road in Morris Township, Greene County was extinguished Tuesday night following an all-day effort by local firefighters.

The fire was extinguished at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Rich Policz, operations and training officer for the Greene County Emergency Management Agency, who coordinated efforts at the scene.

Firefighters were called to the property about 4:30 p.m. Monday and left that night once the situation was determined to be stable. They returned Tuesday morning and worked all day to extinguish the blaze.

No one was injured fighting the fire, Policz said.

“There are just a lot of tired men,” he said, referring to firefighters and others who spent many hours at the scene.

North Suburban Tree Services, the company that runs the composting operation, brought in an excavator Tuesday morning and used it and a bulldozer on-site to spread the compost while firefighters doused the smoldering material.

EQT allowed fire companies to haul water from a nearby freshwater impoundment on WW Railroad Road to help extinguish the blaze. South Strabane Fire Department in Washington County also lent a foam fire suppressant that helped with the effort, Policz said.

The fire primarily was confined to the site, although emergency personnel were concerned it could possibly spread to a nearby wooded area. Thick smoke from the smoldering pile filled a valley to the east of the property.

North Suburban clears trees from construction sites and grinds the wood chips into small particles for composting. The compost is used to make “filter socks,” long tubes of compost that are placed on the ground around construction sites to prevent erosion.

North Suburban Vice President Stephen Blum said Wednesday that firefighters were on the scene Tuesday until just before midnight.

“We had good success,” Blum said. “Everybody worked all day and into the night and got everything smothered out,” he said.

The compost pile, which covered about an acre of ground, was leveled and the compost spread about three feet deep over the entire property, he said. He added that they think the company lost 15 to 20 percent of the material.

“We monitored it through the night and are still there in case there are any hot spots,” Blum said Wednesday morning. “We’ll monitor it for a few days until we get some clarification and can leave.”

The company will work with Greene County Emergency Management Agency to determine when it can stop monitoring the site, Blum said.

The fire is believed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion. Blum said the company has been doing some research on steps it can take to prevent another fire.

“We want to take every measure we can to prevent it,” he said.

Blum thanked the emergency personnel and fire companies that were involved in the effort. They were “more than cooperative,” he said.

Volunteer fire companies that helped extinguish the fire and truck water to the site included the Morris, Center, West Finley, Amwell and Waynesburg-Franklin. In addition to staff from Greene County Emergency Management Agency, the Washington County Department of Public Safety also assisted in the effort.

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