Tires Go Up In Smoke

Hundreds — if not thousands — of old vehicle tires went up in smoke Saturday off Hatton Still Road south of Hazlehurst — thick, black, toxic smoke that threatened close-by neighbors and areas far downwind.
Early this week, Environmental Protection Agency officials were still investigating the blaze and its origins — believed to have been caused by a neighbor burning waste not far from the tires. The tires had been placed around a lot of land as a makeshift fence around the property. While the fence appeared to have kept a few goats from leaving the property, its composition proved to be a highly combustible source of fuel for the fire that burned for hours.
Jeff Davis Emergency Management Agency Director Charles Wasdin was out of town for EMA training at the time of the fire but his fellow EMA personnel kept him informed of the incident.
“I was told a neighbor was burning rubbish nearby and it got out of hand,” Wasdin said Tuesday. “There were thousands of tires there where a guy had made a fence out of old tires all around his complex. There were basically three structures that were lost — one was burned to the ground and two were left uninhabitable. They were all mobile homes.”
Fire fighters called out for mutual aid as they fought the blaze to keep it from spreading to nearby property while it burned itself out. Wasdin said there were 24 pieces of equipment on site and 70 firefighters from Jeff Davis and four area counties.
The Environmental Protection Agency was called to the site and EPA officials monitored the air quality around the fire for 30 hours, after which a shelter-in-place directive was lifted some time Sunday afternoon. Smoke from the area still contained particulates this week and the public was cautioned not to breath the fumes.
The EPA is still investigating the matter.