Cause of Kamloops noxious landfill fire may remain a mystery

Kamloops Fire Rescue says it's unlikely the cause of last week's noxious and potentially toxic dump fire will ever be known.

But fire investigator Ray Webster says there's a good chance combustibles left over in metal recyclables at the Mission Flats landfill played a role.

"Our message is to residents, remove all of your gasoline and fuel before you recycle the metal," Webster says.

He estimates 1,300 square feet of the recyclables burned, leaving a 10-foot tall pile of metal slag.

The blaze burned over the course of 24 hours starting the morning of Saturday, Feb. 27. Firefighters responded, and the blaze was extinguished by Sunday morning. 

The metal that burned was an assortment of items from lawnmowers with gasoline still in them, training equipment and tires.

Can hear the explosions across the river #Kamloops @Kamscan pic.twitter.com/5bPoEtM15M

— Curt Appleby (@CApps32) February 27, 2021

Landfill employees were working to compact the pile of items when smoke started billowing from it.

And when bulldozers were used to separate some of the items in the pile, Webster says it "suddenly erupted into fire and that was it."

"So we're not 100 percent sure where it started, not to mention how it started," he says.

Webster says the remaining metals will still be eventually be recycled.

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