I was promised that recycling was “green” and helpful to the environment, and that people would love it.It turns out that I was…misinformed.However, a major fire broke out at the Silver Creek Materials recycling facility in Fort Worth, Texas, last weekend, generating quite a bit of carbon dioxide and other products of combustion.The blaze started in a large pile of mulch, pallets, and discarded materials and was rapidly intensified by strong winds, which pushed the flames into a massive pile of tires and other combustibles. This resulted in thick, dark plumes of smoke that were visible for miles across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Reports of large brush fire came in on Sunday afternoon at the Silver Creek Materials site located in the far west side of town, the Fort Worth Fire Department said in a Facebook post on Monday.When crews arrived, they found a “large pile of mulch, pallets and discarded materials from residents” on fire. Silver Creek Materials says on its website that it is a recycling, mining, composting and organic products business. The company did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for a comment on Monday.The fire department said that strong winds fueled the fire, which advanced toward an “extremely large pile of tires and other combustibles.””This sent a very large, dark plume of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles,” the department said.https://twitter.com/accuweather/status/1912638430229721283The remote location and the need for a large water supply posed logistical challenges, requiring water shuttling and heavy equipment to move and smother burning debris.
FWFD said the fire itself is about a little more than a mile from Silver Creek Road. [Craig Trojacek, spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department] said even though there is water on the property, they needed more resources for the large fire and had to tap into fire hydrants from the road.”You can see this hose behind me, blue and yellow behind me and things like that, we’ve got probably about 7,000 feet of supply hose running into this area, take s a large volume of water,” explained Trojacek.More than 50 firefighters from FWFD, Lake Worth, Benbrook and River Oaks fire departments helped.Trojacek said they believe the fire is pretty much contained to the property and are not using an aerial defense to fight the flames.
Two firefighters were injured, including one who was taken to the hospital. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The cause of the blaze is not yet known.
While I am not entirely sure what burned, I am certain there were plenty of “carbon emissions”.
All joking aside, it was initially thought the fire would take several days to contain. The firefighters did it in 15 hours. Wildfires can spread so easily under the right conditions, it is fortunate this one was stopped before it hit other properties.
But, interestingly, there is a history of air quality complaints related to Silver Creek Materials. In 2019, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) received multiple complaints from residents about “putrid garbage and raw sewage odor” from the facility, with reported health effects such as headaches, eye irritation, and respiratory irritation.
These led to enforcement actions against the company for failing to prevent nuisance odor conditions.
Additionally, local residents and business owners have expressed frustration at a meeting reviewing the approval for the permit for the company to operate a recycling operation at the property in 2023. Their concerns were prescient.
More than 50 people spoke to oppose the permit, with many questioning how they would be notified if a contamination incident or fire were to occur at BAP Kennor’s facility. The state environmental commission said they would investigate any complaints made by residents.The complaint system hasn’t worked for Robert Sterling, the owner of Silver Creek RV Resort. He and his customers, whose mobile homes overlook the former gravel quarry, have filed complaints about odors at existing recycling facility Silver Creek Materials.“They go nowhere at all,” Sterling said. “Nothing’s going to happen with complaints. We’ve got to stop this now.”
Of course, the environmental activists in the bureaucracy dismissed reasonable concerns and issued the permit.
This case is a textbook example of how the modern environmental movement operates.
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