MISSOULA – Crews battled a fire that broke out at the landfill in Missoula on Saturday evening.
Firefighters were called to the Republic Services landfill site at 3737 Coal Mine Road at 6:40 p.m.
Missoula Rural Fire District Battalion Chief Michael Bowman says the first responding unit reported seeing a large column of smoke coming from the top of the landfill site.
According to Bowman, “a very large area of garbage actively burning.”
Additional units were called to the scene and surrounded the pile with hose lines to stop the fire from growing.
Bowman says crews prevented the fire from spreading until heavy equipment from Republic Services could be brought to the scene.
Once the heavy equipment started working at the scene, Bowman says it did not take fire crews long to extinguish the fire.
Ten firefighters used approximately 6,500 gallons of water to extinguish the fire by using water tenders for water supply.
Bowmann says fire crews — including Missoula city firefighters — remained on the scene for about 90 minutes.
