Officials' tactics inflame critics

Questions arise over Fresno's slow response to fire.

By Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Monday, January 27, 2003, 5:53 AM)

The e-mail doesn't mince words about the January junk fire still sending dangerous smoke into Fresno's sky.

"Waiting nine days to start a foam application is inexcusable and downright stupid ...," writes hazardous-materials officer Mark Cummins of Joshua, Texas. "You need to let a specialized ... company fight this fire."

People from as far away as Canada are speculating about the fire in southwest Fresno, thanks to news stories on the Internet. Intrigued and incensed, they think authorities aren't moving fast enough to stop the 2-week-old fire.

"This should not be happening," says the Rev. Floyd Harris, chairman of the Southwest Fresno Neighborhood Watch. "I don't believe in excuses, I believe in accountability."

The smoke from the fire has resulted in a spike in respiratory patients at medical clinics, in schoolchildren being kept indoors and in residents cringing as the plume meanders through a region of 500,000 people.

So why is this fire still burning? And why did it take so long to figure out how to fight it?

Authorities answer that the fire was difficult to diagnose in its first few days because it is submerged in a pile of debris as large as five football fields filled two stories high.

Crews are working around the clock, moving as quickly as safety allows, they say, but this is no house or forest fire. It resembles tentacles snaking capriciously through the pile, hunting for oxygen. It spews gases and steam. At night, it glows red, reaching 1,000 degrees in some spots.

"You don't just jump on a burning pile like this and start working," says state engineer Todd Thalhamer, an expert on dump and tire fires who is working on the Fresno blaze. "Yes, you want it out as fast as possible, but not at the expense of firefighters' health."

But criticism arises about other aspects of the firefighting effort.

One expert, a University of California professor, says the Fire Department's initial response -- pouring 1 million gallons of water on the fire -- probably was not appropriate. The water doused the visible flames, but it could have added moisture to the pile and stoked a chemical reaction already taking place.

"They needed to pull that fire apart right then," says Brian Jenkins, professor of biology and agricultural engineering at the University of California at Davis. "They should have been aware of this."

And there are other questions: Why did authorities wait four days after calling in state and federal authorities to start tearing the pile apart and putting out the fire?

Why did they receive 500 gallons of

pollution-trapping foam concentrate on Jan. 14 and then not use it all? Why did they wait until Jan. 21 to use a different type of foam?

Indeed, what happened at that pile?

It begins Jan. 11 in the pile of demolished homes, concrete, brick, twisted metal, automobile parts and other junk at the Archie Crippen Excavation site near Nielsen and Marks avenues in southwest Fresno.

The Crippen fire starts by spontaneous combustion, a common cause that can seem mysterious. Spontaneous combustion is a two-step process of natural decomposition that releases energy, which becomes heat. Moisture in a dry pile is required to start this process, and it probably came from the Valley's rain several weeks ago.

In the first step of spontaneous combustion, tiny creatures called microbes break down the wood, causing some heat to be released. The microbes die off or go dormant when the temperature reaches about 160 degrees.

Next, chemical oxidation -- think of iron rusting -- takes over and much more heat is released. As the temperature climbs, the oxidation speeds up. When the temperature reaches 300 degrees, the pile starts smoking.

If a burrowing rodent opens a hole or some other disturbance opens up the pile, oxygen will stir the smoldering pile into a blaze.

The Crippen pile becomes a blaze in the early hours of Jan. 11, a Saturday. City firefighters decide to drown the fire, pouring 1 million gallons of water on a small, flaming section that morning, says interim Fire Chief Joel Aranaz. When the flames die, firefighters depart, leaving Crippen's employees to separate the burned portion from the rest of the pile.

"I'm not going to second-guess the decision to put water on the fire," says Aranaz. "I know other people are questioning the decision. They have the luxury of doing that now. We had a fire to put out."

The water probably did not penetrate far into the pile, Aranaz says. But UC professor Jenkins says enough moisture could have seeped into the dry parts of the pile to speed up the processes of spontaneous combustion, making the fire spread.

Crippen's employees try to prevent the fire from spreading Jan. 11 and Jan. 12 by separating the burned portion. But they accidentally drive an excavating machine over a soft pocket or dome in the pile. The soft pocket collapses and the excavator turns on its side, Aranaz says, so the effort to separate the burned section could not be completed.

The fire flames back up and spreads. When fire crews return Jan. 12, Aranaz says, they stand watch over the fire, occasionally dousing flames. But they realize the fire is well-

protected within the pile and that water can't penetrate deep enough to extinguish it.

"We didn't pour a lot more water on it because we decided we didn't want to turn it into a mud puddle, then have to bring in equipment to pull it apart," Aranaz says.

By Jan. 13, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, which had investigated a smoke complaint over the weekend, has received many more complaints. People as far away as Clovis can smell the smoke, and two days later, people with lung problems are showing up at doctors' offices and medical clinics around the metropolitan area.

Air district officials on Jan. 13 issue a notice of violation to Crippen for not properly shifting the pile to prevent spontaneous combustion.

Crippen would later receive a second notice of violation for creating a public nuisance with the smoke. He eventually could be assessed a penalty of more than $50,000 for each day the fire continues to affect the air. Crippen has refused to comment.

Air monitors reveal the Crippen fire had become a public health issue. With one monitor showing levels of particle pollution three times higher than the federal health standard, district officials warn the public to stay inside as much as possible.

The district also requests 300 to 500 gallons of foam concentrate from the U.S. Forest Service. About 500 gallons of foam, which would help hold down particle pollution and cool the fire, is delivered to the Crippen site on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

But by then, Aranaz had alerted Fresno County that the situation is beyond the control of local firefighters, setting in motion decisions that would prevent the foam from being used.

On Jan. 14, the county calls for help from the state's Integrated Waste Management Board. The state brings in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On Jan. 15, state and federal officials warn that the foam concentrate from the U.S. Forest Service might contain chemicals that could cause toxic contamination when mixed with the Crippen pile.

"We didn't know what was in that pile," says EPA on-site coordinator Michelle Rogow. "And we needed to know what chemicals were in the foam."

The manufacturer of the foam would not release the names of key chemical ingredients, saying they were trade secrets. Rather than risk turning a stubborn fire into a toxic waste site, authorities decide not to use foam on the fire until a week later, when they obtain a different foam they are certain is safe.

Authorities say they needed time to size up the fire to justify an expensive assault with heavy equipment to pull the pile apart. Both Rogow and state engineer Thalhamer had seen bigger fires, but the Valley's well-publicized air quality problems make this one particularly troublesome. The Valley's air is among the worst in the nation.

By late in the day on Jan. 15, they know their involvement is warranted. But both would say later it takes two or three days to get the right equipment, provide training for city firefighters, set up the command structure for several agencies and adequately protect the lives of workers. They start with air samples.

"I had to get monitors in place Thursday morning to get samples so we could check the level of toxics," says Rogow. "We moved as fast as we could to take the samples and have them analyzed."

On Thursday afternoon, Jan. 16, Fresno officials announce the combined firefighting command under city, county and federal agencies, with the state providing expertise and funding.

On Jan. 17, work crews begin preparing the Crippen site, and the first of the bulldozers and mammoth excavators arrives.

Crews build a berm around a makeshift pond where firefighting water is collected and kept on the site. State water quality officials continue to monitor ground-water wells in the area for possible contamination.

On Saturday, Jan. 18, crews finally began pushing small chunks of the burning pile into the pond and extinguishing them.

That same day, Fresno Mayor Alan Autry comes to the site and says the city delivered progress reports to the neighbors in southwest Fresno. The report will become an issue in itself.

The Valley air district, which had not been invited to the gathering of city officials, arrives that day with 2,500 fliers that warn neighbors of the fire's health effects. Two thousand of the fliers are printed in English and Spanish, and 500 more in Hmong.

The district printed the fliers at the request of Sierra Club member Kevin Hall.

"The city's flier was in English only," Hall says. "It said nothing about health. It was shocking."

Hall says he joined others to deliver the fliers to about 30 churches on Sunday, Jan. 19. At one church, people did not know about the fire because they do not speak English and do not follow mainstream media, Hall says.

City officials that day say they plan to tell people about the health risks at a town hall meeting later in the week. They also welcome the news from EPA's Rogow about the results of the air analysis, which shows the toxic content of the fire's pollution was not high enough to trigger health problems.

On Jan. 20, the EPA, the air district and others quickly remind the media and the public that wood smoke contains many pollutants, not just toxics, and is still dangerous for those exposed to it.

City officials hold their town hall meeting Thursday, explaining health risks, describing the efforts to put out the fire and listening to residents' comments.

Residents vent some frustration. "This information here is not new for me because I've been through this already," says Lupe Avila, 71. "I'm limited with what I can do now. It's hard to breathe."

City officials tell residents there would be an investigation of the Crippen fire and the city permit system that might have prevented it. Residents have complained in the past about Crippen and other recyclers in the area.

Officials reiterate the mayor's pledge to form a special task force.

"We have no fear of the truth," Autry says via telephone link to the residents at the town hall meeting. Autry was in Washington, D.C., for a mayors' conference.

On Saturday, back at the Crippen property, crews continue to dig out burning debris under clouds of smoke. Authorities say the state's cost of fighting the fire has reached $795,000. They describe the blaze as slightly more than halfway under control.

But they say they still can't answer the most crucial question: When will this fire end?

The reporter can be reached at

mgrossi@fresnobee.com or 441-6316.