General Manager at All Waste, Inc., “Most refuse or recycling truck fires start with improperly discarded items that wind up in the load, not resulting from anything wrong with the truck.”

Load fires can heat the truck’s compressed natural gas storage tanks, raise pressure, and cause them to release natural gas from the pressure relief valves, making the situation much worse. In most cases, leaving a burning load of waste inside the body of a collection truck will result in the total loss of the vehicle. Therefore, the standard operating procedure in most garbage truck fires is to immediately discharge the burning load as soon as possible.

That’s the reason the Econ Refuse service truck left a pile of burning garbage on a residential street.

It is important that the public know that they should not throw out anything flammable, such as pool chemicals, weed trimmers, propane tanks, fuel cells, lighter fluid and similar materials. People’s lives are at risk.

Authorities say residents should contact their local solid waste district on how to properly get rid of hazardous materials.