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The Fire Department had been called 21 times since July to douse the smoldering rubbish buried south of the Platt Bridge.
Make that 22 times.
Tuesday afternoon, firefighters were called to the scene again after a Review reporter and photographer visited the site and discovered the underground blaze had crept above the surface. The orange flames, 6-8 inches high, swayed in the wind, licking the surrounding trees and brush on the city-owned land.
The visible portion of the fire was contained to a roughly 4-foot area, but as evidence that it burned more extensively beneath the ground, billows of smoke rose from other parts of the 45,000-ton trash mound near the intersection of Fort Mifflin and Hog Island roads.
Yesterday, smoke was still noticeable from atop the Platt Bridge.
Last week, an official from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said he had heard anecdotal accounts of the above-surface flames at the dump, but added none had been reported directly to his office.
The state DEP describes the blaze as a subsurface fire feeding on construction debris dumped there 13 years ago. It is believed to have ignited spontaneously due to the decomposition of organic materials such as wood products. Inspectors from the Health Department are monitoring the area to ensure the fumes do not impact air quality.
City officials have promised to find a permanent means to extinguish the fire pending a report from the Managing Director’s Office, which will include recommendations from an engineering consultant.
That report had been expected to be released this week, but on Tuesday a spokesperson for the mayor said the study would not be ready for another week.
Council President Anna Verna raised the issue during a budget hearing for the Health Department last week. The fire is in the Southwest Philly portion of Verna’s Second District.
Her spokesperson, Bob Previdi, said the Council president’s office would continue to wait "patiently" for the city’s report so long as the emissions from the dump do not adversely affect air quality in her district.
"We are waiting for this report to come out with its recommendations because certainly we want to get this situation under control," Previdi said.
He added that Verna heard about the fire a few weeks ago and found it "alarming" to learn how long the problem has existed.
Councilman-at-Large Frank Rizzo Jr. also said he was unaware of the underground fire until reading recent newspaper reports.
"I always knew there were areas back there that were being abused by short-dumping," Rizzo said, "but I never knew about this ongoing problem."
The councilman has sent a letter to Christine T. Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, requesting federal Superfund money be made available to clean up the landfill. He has confirmed the letter has been received and is awaiting a reply.
In the meantime, he said he is ensuring that the Health Department continues to check the air quality in the area.
"You never know, it could affect more than just those residents close by," Rizzo said. "It could affect people that live miles away if it is something toxic."
Gloria Inverso, president of the South Philadelphia Environmental Action Coalition, wants to know how this site was missed when researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore came to Philadelphia to study pollution sources in South and Southwest Philly in 1994.
The $750,000, three-year study culled information from residents as well as state and city sources on pollution in the lower half of the city.
Inverso, who convinced former U.S. Rep. Tom Foglietta to ask for the federal funds and participated by touring polluted sites in South Philly, said the completed report includes auto-body shops, the petroleum plume, dry-cleaning businesses and the Sunoco Refinery, among other sources.
It contains no information about the smoldering landfill, she said.
"Not one person mentioned it," Inverso recalled.
Now documents have surfaced that show Harold Emerson, owner of a demolition company, had permission to dump construction debris from North Philly at the site, according to a deal with the city between 1989 and 1990. Later, the state cited Emerson with environmental violations. A Common Pleas judge reportedly fined Emerson $5 million and ordered him to clean up the site in 1991. But he told the courts he was financially unable and the landfill remains the same today.
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To report smoke, fumes or any other potential air-pollution problem, call the Health Department’s Air Management Services at 215-685-7580.
