LAHARPE — For the second time in less than a month, firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze at the Allen County Landfill.
But unlike the previous fire on July 23, which was considerably larger and whose cause was never determined, Allen County Public Works Director Mitch Garner has a strong suspicion that fireworks caused the second blaze.
After every Independence Day celebration, the county places a container near the landfill’s entrance for folks to discard spent fireworks, so they’re not immediately mixed in with the rest of the landfill refuse.
After several rain storms over the ensuing 6½ weeks, Garner and the rest of the landfill operators assumed the discarded fireworks had been sufficiently doused to safely dump in the main cell earlier this week.
That assumption was apparently incorrect. As firefighters arrived, they were greeted with an occasional pop and brief shower of sparks from previously unexploded fireworks, Garner said.
The LaHarpe Rural Volunteer Fire Department extinguished the blaze within a few hours; no other departments were called for assistance.
There were no injuries involved in fighting the blaze, Garner said.
