Salina seeing an increase in battery fires at landfill, asking community for help

SALINA, Kan. (KSNW) — The City of Salina is seeing an increase in fires at its landfill due to batteries not being disposed of properly.

City officials said last year, the landfill had 15 fires, and normally it’s one or two a year.

Salina officials said it’s dangerous for workers, time-consuming, and costly for the city and landfill.

On Monday, the City said some trash loads were brought in that started some small fires on the landfill. Turns out that the trash had a few dozen batteries inside, including lithium and alkaline batteries.

Work had to stop so the crew could put out the fires and pick out the batteries.

Not only is it dangerous for workers, but the Landfill Superintendent also said the fires over the years have cost the city tens of thousands of dollars.

“We’ve had a couple of trash truck fires as well, and they have to pull over and put the fires out, and they have to wait for the fire department to arrive and make sure that everything is good before they can continue on, trucks are several hundred thousand dollars some of the equipment out here at the landfill is nearly a million dollars to replace,” said Salina Environment Education & Enforcement Coordinator, Brent Curtis.

Landfill staff is trained to put out these smaller fires, the said the fire department is only called when the fires are out of control or endangering neighboring properties.

The City asks all residents to know where to dispose of their batteries properly. To learn how, click here.