New fire suppression work starts at landfill near Pasco

Work has started on a more aggressive effort to stop a smoldering underground fire at the closed Pasco Sanitary Landfill north of Pasco.

A trench is being dug about three feet wide and 35 to 40 feet deep around the area that’s burning. The trench will be filled with a mixture of clay, cement and soil that will harden into an underground wall surrounding the smoldering trash.

Bales of household and other municipal waste and some shredded tires were buried there until 1989.

The burning waste in the center will be mixed with concrete and clay to form a slurry the consistency of toothpaste that should not burn, according to the Washington State Department of Ecoogy.

When the fire is out, a similar underground barrier will be put around a nearby waste disposal area. It will better isolate the drums of hazardous waste buried there until they can be cleaned up.

The underground fire was discovered in November 2013, and attempts to smother it by dumping soil on it have not extinguished it completely.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 6:30 PM with the headline "New fire suppression work starts at landfill near Pasco."