Firefighters spent Thursday night and Friday morning watering down a smoldering fire at Superior's municipal landfill, but their work isn't over.
They were dispatched to the landfill at 4:02 a.m. Thursday when a caller spotted flames from Duluth's hillside. Strong winds pushed smoke westerly, prompting concern about the potential for hot cinders to spread into tinder-dry forests and about possibility smoke toxicity.
Neither became a problem, Fire Department Chief Tad Matheson said today.
"We felt very fortunate that nothing got going in the woods," he said. A Douglas County Health Department test indicated the smoke was not posing a human health risk in the neighboring area.
Landfill fires, however, can't be extinguished quickly. Matheson noted some of the burning occurs below the surface, and it's difficult for water to reach each hot spot. Public Works Department employees are assisting in that effort today by using heavy equipment to unearth embers that might still be smoldering.
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Investigators continue to believe a hot load of debris probably started the fire but have not narrowed the source to a specific customer.
