An active investigation is ongoing by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police Department to find out what caused the tire fire in Palau’s landfill.
On Wednesday December 3rd, at around midnight, the Fire department responded to the landfill in M-dock, Koror where a massive fire was consuming a pile of old tires.
With the use of five fire trucks including a crew from the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF), fire fighters worked tirelessly for more than 12 hours to put out the stubborn fire. The fire kept burning until about mid afternoon on the same day when fire fighters finally put out the last flame.
According to online information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), tire fires are difficult to extinguish. Tires are also reportedly not prone to self-ignition.Tire fires also produce a thick black smoke that contains toxic chemicals, and an oily material, a significant pollutant. Luckily wind direction kept the smoke from disrupting traffic and the high school near the area.
OTV contacted the Fire department to find out more details regarding the cause of the fire, but was told that the investigation is still ongoing. Its unclear if arson was the cause, however, it is likely.
