Kings County residents report headaches, asthma inflamed by nearby compost fire

A fire that ignited at a Kings County composting facility has continued burning this week, sickening some residents living about 15 miles away in the community of Kettleman City.

The fire at Kochergen Farms Composting, Inc., which produces organic compost and processes food waste, began by spontaneous combustion amid gusty winds on Monday, according to San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District spokesperson Jaime Holt.

Officials have been working “around the clock” to contain the fire, Holt said. Air district inspectors are also on-site to “see if there are any violations that may come out of the situation out there,” she said, declining to comment further on the investigation.

Kochergen Farms and the Kings County Fire Department have not responded to requests for comment.

The air district wants the blaze to be put out “as quickly as possible, in the safest way possible,” Holt said. That means that rather than dousing the fire with water, which could create bigger plumes of smoke, the district is encouraging the landowner to extinguish the fire by moving the material and applying dirt and water to the compost piles, she said.

While there is some smoke visibly billowing off the fire, “for the most part the weather has been cooperating, and the smoke is going up in the atmosphere,” Holt said, adding, “we haven’t seen actual air quality impacts on the ground.” (Clarification: Holt was speaking about conditions at 11 a.m. Friday. Since, she said, district investigators have seen impacts on the ground. Further, she said, the district has responded to complaints and is investigating for possible violations.)

In the small community of just over 1,100 residents, located near the intersection of Highway 41 and Interstate 5, the lingering smell of burning plastic infiltrated cars and homes this week, according to resident Miguel Alatorre.

Resident Nicole Jimmeye said the acrid stench woke her up around 4 a.m. Thursday. The smell invaded her home and persisted all day. She stepped outside briefly that night to grab something from her truck and returned feeling dizzy and with “the worst headache,” she said.

“I was feeling sick to my stomach,” Jimmeye said. “It felt like when you have a migraine, but I know it wasn’t a migraine.”

Resident Maricela Mares-Alatorre, mother of Miguel Alatorre, said the smoke inflamed her asthma, making her feel wheezy. Mares-Alatorre, who with her son campaigns for environmental justice in Kettleman City through their work with San Francisco-based Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, said the fire adds to the “fountains of contamination” surrounding the rural community.

Kettleman City gained media attention more than a decade ago after residents raised concerns about a rash of congenital disabilities as they fought the expansion of a hazardous waste landfill located about five miles from the community. A state investigation did not determine why nearly a dozen babies were born with physical deformities, and regulators later approved the facility’s expansion.

“What about the health of the residents that are being affected in Kettleman City and Avenal?” Mares-Alatorre said. “Who’s going to pay our medical bills; who is going to buy our Albuterol pumps for asthma that’s exacerbated by the smoke?”

“It’s not just the smoke from this fire, but all the other fountains of contamination that we have surrounding us,” she said. “It’s a big concern when you add to a community that is already burdened.”

Holt, with the air district, stressed that anyone who can see or smell smoke — be it from a wildfire or a compost fire like the one in Kings County — should take steps to protect their health. She recommended shutting the home and either using an air purifier or making a homemade purifier using a box fan and a filter and wearing a well-fitted N95 mask outdoors.

This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 4:03 PM.