Battling the growing number of blazes at the Barton County Landfill will get a little easier after the County Commission Tuesday morning approved the purchase of a fire truck for the Solid Waste Department.

“Many of these fires could be extinguished by landfill personnel with the proper equipment on site,” said Solid Waste Director Phil Hathcock. 

The City of Claflin had a surplus fire truck it was willing to part with for $6,500.

It is a heavy-duty 1969 Chevrolet pickup mounted with a 650-gallon water tank. It is equipped with hoses that would allow landfill staff to douse small fires before they grow large enough to require fire departments to respond.

Why more fires?

“The Barton County Landfill has experienced an increased number of fires over the past several years,” Hathcock said. “This is due to the disposal of lithium ion batteries.”

These are the rechargeable batteries found in power tools, cell phones and other devices. These are not the disposable batteries used in many common and household items, some of which also use lithium.  

“The problem comes when they get ran over by a compactor,” he said. When they are broken open, it can trigger a flammable chemical reaction that can reach temperatures over 3000 degrees.

“They get very hot and that’s what starts fires,” he said.

“We do recycle these,” he said. However, it is legal to just throw them away so they wind up in the mounds of trash.