Illegal Dump Turns Into Blazing Inferno
A week after a blazing inferno burned more than 10 acres of an illegal Denver landfill, the fire still smoulders and questions remain about its cause and possible consequences.
The illegal landfill was discovered eight months ago on Lee B. Killian and Earnestine K. Killian’s property after a citizen reported seeing trucks hauling debris off Highway 16 onto the property.
“It was closed within 10 minutes after I was told,” Lee Killian said Monday. “I went down there and put a log across the road. I had no idea I needed it (a permit); I just thought I was stopping erosion.”
When asked about “construction debris,” Killian quickly responded that it was not construction debris. “That’s not legal. . . just brush, limbs, blocks, and concrete…nothing hazardous.”
Thursday afternoon a fire broke out on the property that sent heavy plumes of smoke and the glow of fire across the sky in a widespread area. The fire turned into a media frenzy by nightfall as smoke and the fire glow was detected as far away as 10 miles.
But the fire visible afar was nothing compared to the fires that burned underground on nearly 10 acres of what was called a “stump dump.”
The call came in at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8, and within minutes, the nearby Denver Fire Department arrived and found several acres on fire with some burning as deep as 60 feet.
