The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Columbia County Commissioners declared an emergency Friday afternoon following an early morning fire at the county transfer station on South Cottonwood Street that destroyed most of the necessary operational equipment and seriously damaged the integrity of the main building.

"Basically we [declared the emergency] because otherwise we'd have to go through the official bidding process to get the cleanup and repairs done," Commissioner Dwight Robanske said. "We're dealing with the health and safety of the community here, and we need to be able to get started right away."

Until further notice, the county dump will be closed, County Engineer Andrew Woods said Friday. "Primarily because of the structural damage," he said. "The heat caused quite a bit of cracking in all the wrong places near one of the center beams."

Commissioners planned to meet Wednesday to discuss the current status of clean-up and repair at the transfer station. The Times will continue to report on this both online and in future issues.

Series of Fires Has Community Alarmed

Friday's fire was the third suffered by this small community in a week. The Columbia County Sheriff's Office was investigating a small grass fire last Wednesday afternoon along the Touchet River behind the city's wastewater treatment plant. And the county fire marshal called on a team from Walla Walla to help investigate a fire early last Wednesday morning that destroyed a home on East Commercial Street (see story in this issue).

Firefighters fought a blaze three weeks ago on East Washington Avenue that consumed one unoccupied home and destroyed another house next door.

"A lot of people are concerned, and we're hearing it," Columbia County Fire Marshal Kim Lyonnais said Friday.

Investigators had planned to meet on Tuesday to compare notes and settle on a cause for several of the local fires. However, the Blue Creek Fire, burning outside of Walla Walla, forced the fire marshal to put that meeting on hold, Lyonnais confirmed on Tuesday.

The fire at the county dump will be scrutinized as well, Lyonnais added.

"We have to be aware of the rash of fires and make sure we do our due diligence on all of them," he said. "We're taking that approach on this (the transfer station fire)."

Despite questions from the community, Lyonnais said fires in dumpsters and other refuse containers are quite common. "We're looking into it, though," he said. "We need to determine whether this was just an accident; whether someone put something in there that they shouldn't have. We do have reason to believe a follow-up investigation should be done."

Community Impact of Friday's Fire

Many first responders, officials and several homeowners have been affected by the recent fires in Dayton. Friday's fire is the first to impact the entire community.

The Columbia County Transfer Station is a central collection location where residents can deposit their refuse at a loading dock two to three days per week, depending on the season. Workers sort the garbage and push it, using a small excavator, through a hole in the floor of the main building into a semi-truck container waiting below.

When the container is full, it is transported to Basin Disposal in Pasco. A typical trailer load contains between 22-27 tons of trash, Woods said.

The fire, reported at approximately 2:40 a.m. Friday, July 17, started in one of these trailers holding garbage under the main structure. The container was destroyed; the semi-truck, which had been connected to the trailer at the time of the fire, was seriously damaged.

An investigator from the county's insurance agency was already on scene Friday as the commissioners met to view the damage and discuss next steps.

"It's all covered by the county's insurance," Woods said. But the closure poses many problems for county officials. First and foremost, commissioners are worried about where residents and businesses will dump their waste now.

"At this point, the only real option is for them to take it to Walla Walla, to the Sudbury Landfill," Woods said.

But officials hope to find a better solution as soon as possible. "We're going to evaluate whether we can do something temporary to get the transfer station open," Commissioner Merle Jackson said Friday. "We don't how or what that would look like, but we're looking at options."

Woods, the county engineer, cautioned that even a temporary solution to refuse collection "isn't going to be a simple process." The county will have to work with the city of Dayton, Basin Disposal and other agencies to find a solution, he said.

Dian Ver Valen

Results of the Columbia County Transfer Station fire.

"Our biggest challenge will be location," he said. Finding somewhere to accommodate a trailer, where customers can drive up and dump into a container, will be difficult, he said. And the transfer station doesn't just deal with basic waste – there's hazardous household waste and recycling as well, he said.

A Silver Lining

One good result that may come from Friday's fire, commissioners said, is that the county has been wanting to rebuild at the dump for a number of years.

"But we didn't have the money," Commissioner Robanske said. Years ago the county changed the way it processes waste at the facility but wasn't able to adapt the site and structures to match the new system. "Now might be the time to get that done," he said.

Since the fire will likely mean a significant rebuild, this might be an opportunity for the county to make that upgrade to the transfer station facilities.