Garbage catches fire in Brookings while in back of truck

By Mondell Keck | The Brookings Register 

BROOKINGS — It’s not often that refuse catches fire, but when it does — and it’s already inside a garbage truck — it gets dumped and spread out into an alley to be snuffed out. 

That’s precisely what happened on the morning of Feb. 11 in the alley between Second Avenue South and Third Avenue South in Brookings. Naturally, it brought a response from the Brookings Fire Department — two fire engines and 12 firefighters in all.

“The fire was a result of some smoldering substance contained within the garbage picked up along the route,” BFD Chief Troy Hughes told The Brookings Register. “Seeing the smoke and fire in the rear of the garbage truck, the driver then dumped the load down the alley.” 

Hughes said crews used a backhoe to spread the load out to fully extinguish it before it was reloaded back into a roll-off container. 

— Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].