Garbage truck drivers are taught to dump their trucks’ refuse quickly after they notice a fire beginning in their vehicles, DFD Deputy Chief Chris Etheredge said.
A Mark Dunning Industries driver performed that maneuver in the empty portion of a large parking lot. Emergency personnel stayed on the scene for about an hour and a half because trash fires that originate in garbage trucks present several challenges, Etheredge noted.
Etheredge said some garbage truck fires begin due to chemical reactions, while some start due to a spark from a mechanical element of the truck. Others, though, begin after people toss away something like coals that still could be warm enough to spark a fire.
Etheredge said DFD responds to several trash can fires in a year, and hot coals caused many of those fires.