The weekend after Thanksgiving, Chrissie Harmon woke up to the smell of smoke around 2am.
“I actually thought the house was on fire,” recalls Harmon.
The smoke was coming from a nearby landfill, a 13-acre burning pit about half a mile up the hill from the Harmon home in St. Clair County, Alabama.
“When I realized there was a fire impacting the landfill, I knew they would put it out quickly,” Harmon said.
More than two months later, however, the fire is still fuming both underground and on the surface. And it’s causing a laundry list of health concerns for Harmon and her neighbors.
“Nosebleeds and upper respiratory junk,” Harmon said. “I had a terrible headache.”
“Coughs, congestion, sinus problems, headaches, nosebleeds, chest pains,” said Frank Reed, who lives right in front of the Annie Lee Road landfill.
“Definite sinus problems, coughs, headaches, dizziness,” said Daniel Cash, who lives a few houses down the street from the fire.
what’s burning
In total, over 500 people live within a mile of the smoldering pit in the middle of a wooded residential area near Moody.
Jeff Wickliffe, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at UAB, said:
Private landfills operating under the name Environmental Landfill, Inc. are not regulated by state authorities. It’s called a “vegetable waste dump” and is allowed to accept natural debris such as trees and leaves. However, according to a report filed by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the dump was previously mentioned as containing non-natural waste such as appliances, utility poles and construction materials.
Residents have complained of toxic fumes and air pollution since the fire broke out in late November. In early January, state officials asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct air sampling, which revealed several toxic chemicals above normal levels.
Detected contaminants may shed more light on what may be burning at the scene.
Identified in landfill air samples, trichlorethylene (TCE) is used as an industrial solvent and is found only in non-natural products such as thinners. Both benzene and 1,3-butadiene detected in houses around fires are known to come from burning wood and burning rubber and plastics.
Toxic pollutants have been linked to serious health problems such as cancer and cardiovascular problems, but health experts are concerned about the short- and long-term effects on residents exposed to landfill smoke. It is said that it is difficult to predict
According to an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “The potential for harm depends on individual characteristics and habits, as well as high levels and length of exposure.”
Wickliffe said comparative data were lacking.
“Much of what we know about the short-term, direct health effects of many of these chemicals is actually based on very high concentrations, much higher than what we see here. “For some of these, for example, we don’t know what the impact is over two months.”
In general, smoke inhalation is never good, especially for people with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and heart disease.
treatment of symptoms
ADEM officials are advising residents to stay indoors, seek medical attention if they feel unwell, and move if necessary, frustrating many residents.
“It may be an option for some, but it’s not an easy cleanup for everyone,” said Cash, who lives in an old mobile home just down the hill from the Annie Lee Road landfill. No,’ he said.
Cash said he and his fiancé could not afford to stay at the hotel and were unable to obtain approval for homeowners insurance.
Harmon and her family have insurance, but they still can’t leave the house.
“I have a disabled child. I can’t take him anywhere,” Harmon said.
Harmon’s insurance helps pay for a commercial air purifier and seven air purifiers. The family also puts blue painter’s tape on the windows and doors to prevent toxic fumes from entering the house.
Reid’s house is directly across from the flames, and although he’s spent hundreds of dollars on water filters and cleaning supplies, there’s no escape from the smoke.
He and his 17-year-old son have been prescribed nasal sprays, antibiotics and steroids to alleviate symptoms.
Read hopes the EPA will put the fire out soon. The agency stepped in last week, working to smother the burning landfill with dirt. This process may take another month.
But Reed worries that even if the flames are extinguished, the effects will linger.
“Who knows what’s going to happen 10 years from now. Will it be a strange cancer that is rare and possibly treatable or otherwise?” “I mean, those are the things we all have to live with right now.”
The EPA has site profiles containing data from the agency’s air monitors and updates on efforts to smolder fires and reduce smoke.
Reed said he and his neighbors constantly wonder what chemicals might have been burning weeks ago before anyone tested the air.
