A different kind of dumpster fire: Garbage trucks are going up in flames in US

People have been calling 2020 a dumpster fire, but it’s more than a metaphor for some U.S. cities hit by a rash of garbage truck blazes.

As some people use time at home during coronavirus lockdowns to declutter, waste haulers in Colorado and Texas have issued warnings about improper disposals after recent fires.

“They’re definitely more common than you would think,” said driver Ryan Schwindt in Denver, KDVR reported. He recently had to drop a load of garbage in a parking lot after it caught fire.

Denver’s waste management operations have seen an uptick in garbage truck fires this spring with people under stay-home orders, according to the station.

A Texas waste hauler cautioned residents earlier in April after two garbage truck fires in the Houston area, The Houston Chronicle reported.

“We see with the stay at home order and even before that, we’ve seen a significant uptick in trash volumes,” said John Geiger of Woodlands Township, according to the publication. “Folks are taking advantage of this time to clean out their houses, throw things away.”

But Geiger warned that not everything goes in the trash, The Houston Chronicle reported.

“These fires are caused by placing hazardous materials in the trash,” he said, according to the publication. “That can include a number of things — batteries, propane tanks, chemicals, even fertilizers.”

Colorado officials also listed pool chemicals, paint thinner and lighter fluid as problems, KDVR reported. Friction when garbage trucks compact such items can ignite fires.

In Utah, Magna firefighters doused a garbage truck fire that blocked traffic Tuesday, KSTU reported. Also on Tuesday, Washington firefighters extinguished a blaze at a Waste to Energy Plant in Spokane, KXLY reported.

Iowa firefighters also battled a landfill fire in Sheldon, suspected to have been caused by hot embers and coals in someone’s trash, nwestiowa.com reported.

This story was originally published April 29, 2020 at 7:49 AM with the headline "A different kind of dumpster fire: Garbage trucks are going up in flames in US."