Mulch Ado About Blazes
Firefighters Frustrated Over Repeated Calls To Same Farm
Posted: January 30, 2013
For the fifth time in less than two months, Stanley firefighters battled a mulch fire early Monday morning at a farm leased by Shenandoah Waste Services.
Within the last week alone, fire crews have fought two large blazes involving roughly 50-foot-tall mulch piles at Hunts Run Farm, about five miles west of Stanley at 862 Diary Drive.
Spontaneous combustion has been cited as the cause of each fire.
Emergency crews have been left exhausted, Stanley Fire Chief Terry Pettit said.
“We have to get a solution,” said a frustrated Pettit on Tuesday. “It’s such a huge pile of mulch. It takes a tremendous amount of work to put it out. If we have to go out there every three or four days, we’ll never get any rest.”
Calls to the company’s owner, Jody Salyards, were not returned Tuesday.
The most recent blaze happened about 1:30 a.m. Monday. Firefighters battled it for roughly four hours in poor weather conditions, including freezing rain.
Because there is no water supply in the area, firefighters used tankers from the Luray and Shenandoah fire departments to shuttle roughly 30,000 gallons of water to the scene from the South Fork of the Shenandoah River five miles away.
Monday’s fire comes on the heels of a large mulch blaze that broke out at the farm Thursday. Three smaller fires had occurred there since December.
While the firefighters are all volunteers, Pettit said, the Stanley department, which relies on donations to keep going, has to fork out up to $1,000 for fuel on each call to the farm.
The department won’t ask the company to pay for the service, but Pettit has asked it to reduce the roughly 50-foot pile into smaller mulch piles, so if a fire does break out again, it’s not a large one.
As of Tuesday, he said, the company hasn’t moved the mulch.
Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com
Within the last week alone, fire crews have fought two large blazes involving roughly 50-foot-tall mulch piles at Hunts Run Farm, about five miles west of Stanley at 862 Diary Drive.
Spontaneous combustion has been cited as the cause of each fire.
Emergency crews have been left exhausted, Stanley Fire Chief Terry Pettit said.
“We have to get a solution,” said a frustrated Pettit on Tuesday. “It’s such a huge pile of mulch. It takes a tremendous amount of work to put it out. If we have to go out there every three or four days, we’ll never get any rest.”
Calls to the company’s owner, Jody Salyards, were not returned Tuesday.
The most recent blaze happened about 1:30 a.m. Monday. Firefighters battled it for roughly four hours in poor weather conditions, including freezing rain.
Because there is no water supply in the area, firefighters used tankers from the Luray and Shenandoah fire departments to shuttle roughly 30,000 gallons of water to the scene from the South Fork of the Shenandoah River five miles away.
Monday’s fire comes on the heels of a large mulch blaze that broke out at the farm Thursday. Three smaller fires had occurred there since December.
While the firefighters are all volunteers, Pettit said, the Stanley department, which relies on donations to keep going, has to fork out up to $1,000 for fuel on each call to the farm.
The department won’t ask the company to pay for the service, but Pettit has asked it to reduce the roughly 50-foot pile into smaller mulch piles, so if a fire does break out again, it’s not a large one.
As of Tuesday, he said, the company hasn’t moved the mulch.
Contact Pete DeLea at 574-6278 or pdelea@dnronline.com