In the early hours of the 14th morning, a large amount of smoke was emitted due to overheating and smoldering at the Taoyuan Huiji Landfill. The Taoyuan Fire Department immediately dispatched 49 vehicles and 258 firefighters to control the blaze. Police vehicles were also on the scene to close the road up the mountain. After 26 hours, the fire was finally put out successfully, with the impact zone covering an area of over 1,000 square meters; fortunately no one was injured in the incident. In addition to informing the 6 schools and 12 borough chiefs in the downwind area by SMS to help remind students and the public to wear masks and reduce outdoor activities, the Fire Department inspectors also used handheld organic gas detectors to monitor the situation closely. Air quality monitoring vehicles were also urgently dispatched to the site for continuous monitoring and the recent air quality monitoring values did not show a hazardous level. In the future, the Department of Environmental Protection of the Taoyuan City Government (TYDEP) will prioritize the procurement of infrared temperature detectors, and at the same time add water supply outlets to the firefighting lines and dig firefighting wells to be ready for emergencies and will comprehensively check the fire safety of all landfill sites to minimize the chance of fires.
The TYDEP noted that prior to the Lunar New Year, many households clear a large number of unwanted and discarded furniture, especially a large amount of waste mattresses. As the heaps of mattresses stack up, it invariably leads to soaring internal temperature. The dismantled cotton wool from the mattress is very flammable and spontaneous combustion was generated by the strong wind that night, thus causing the fire. The residual mattress scrap metal at the scene of the fire is expected to be removed next Monday for reuse. Post-disaster flammable waste will have to wait until the temperature has cooled down and then transported to the ShinRong Incineration Plant for processing. Recently, waste furniture collected daily in the Taoyuan District will be transferred to other landfill sites for temporary storage. Meanwhile, TYDEP’s Taoyuan District Squadron will also deploy additional manpower to patrol the site 24 hours a day, and deploy large excavators to strengthen security at the site. Firefighting water has also been fully refilled to prevent the resurgence of fires at the Huiji Landfill.
According to the TYDEP, the Huiji landfill site is located on Hutoushan, and was closed in 2002 and no longer accepting raw waste. The site is currently used only as a temporary storage for large-sized furniture and collected tree branches, as well as the operation site for sorting and re-use of materials. The main cause of fires in the past was mostly due to internal heat accumulation of waste heaps that led to spontaneous combustion. This year, because of the collection and transportation of large quantities of waste furniture from households before the Lunar New Year, it is not easy to dispose of them in the short term, so they could only be temporarily deposited in the Huiji Landfill site. Therefore, in the future, the TYDEP will continue to expand the recycling capacity of waste furniture in the city and shorten the temporary storage time in the landfill site. At the same time, infrared temperature detectors are to be procured to strengthen temperature monitoring, so that once the alarm value is exceeded, water can be sprinkled immediately to lower the temperature. At the same time, the fire safety equipment on site was strengthened, including the addition of water outlets in existing fire protection lines to facilitate rapid water delivery by fire engines and shorten the time of water line deployment, as well as the excavation of firefighting wells to provide sufficient water sources to reduce the risk of fire.
During the fire incident at Huiji Landfill, the TYDEP took air quality in the downwind areas very seriously. The TYDEP immediately notified school administrators and borough chiefs by SMS, reminding students and residents to put on face masks and avoid outdoor activities to mitigate harm to health. At the same time, TYDEP also deployed handheld organic gas detectors to six schools in the downwind area: Dayou Elementary School, Dayou Junior High School, Happy Elementary School, Daye Elementary School, Gueiji Elementary School and Kuaiji Junior High School, monitoring changes in values once an hour. At the same time, the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) was also tasked to coordinate air quality monitoring vehicles from other counties and cities to conduct continuous monitoring at the downwind location. No hazardous levels of air quality were observed during the monitoring period.
On the morning of the 15th, the TYDEP dispatched staff to the Baoxing Civic Center to explain the cause of the fire and the future fire prevention and improvement plan to the 12 borough chiefs and residents, including the purchase of infrared temperature measuring guns, additional water supply outlets for fire protection lines, and excavation of fire protection wells. The TYDEP also promised to inform the borough chiefs of the impacted areas of the scheduled process in a formal letter and to make the information available for public scrutiny, as well as to conduct a comprehensive review of the fire safety of other existing landfill sites, demonstrating the determination of the city administration to solve the problem.