Officials caution: Smoke to worsen at dump-site fire.

BELLA VISTA — Residents near an underground fire can expect the smoke to get worse over the next few weeks before it gets better, officials cautioned last week.

Efforts to extinguish the fire are underway — preparation work, mainly — at the former stump dump site, according to the Bella Vista Property Owners Association. Firefighters discovered the fire at the closed stump dump on July 29.

The association agreed to take over responsibility to pay to extinguish and clean up the dump site, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality announced May 3. The state will conduct inspections and provide oversight, according to a news release.

Preparation work started at the site Thursday, said Donnally Davis with the Department of Environmental Quality. Work included establishing exclusion zones marked with construction fencing, connecting to the on-site fire hydrant, running fire hoses, setting and testing fire pumps, setting water pump and hoses to bypass the work zone and installing breathing air bottles on heavy equipment, according to a post at www.bellavistapoa.com/Trafalgarfire, a Property Owners website dedicated to the dump site.

Contractors performing the work have emphasized that smoke coming from the fire could worsen as work progresses, Tom Judson, the association’s chief operating officer, said in a video posted to the website Tuesday.

“Potentially, the smoke could be, when we are putting it out, the worst that we have seen to date,” he said.

The first couple of days of firefighting will be experimental with limited operations as workers move into the landfill and begin to expose burning debris and extinguish it, according to information on the website.

That initial work will give contractors a good idea of smoke and particulate generation and allow for air monitoring data to provide an idea of how aggressive the fire can be attacked, according to the website.

Burn trenches on-site will incinerate organic material, Judson said.

The association will employ three companies to put out the fire, Judson has said. ERM will act as the project manager, he said in Tuesday’s video. CTEH will do air quality monitoring, and E-3 Environmental will put out the fire, he said.

CTEH will do real-time air quality monitoring and be in direct connection with E-3, Judson said.

Particulate matter air monitoring showed air quality index readings mostly in the “good” range for testing done April 25 to May 8, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.

There was one “moderate” reading April 26.

Particulate matter monitoring measures the amount of solid and liquid droplets found in the air, such as ash, dust and smoke. The amount provides a snapshot of local air quality and how it might affect health, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

Some area residents have complained of respiratory and other health problems that they associate with the smoke.

State officials urged residents near the fire in December to avoid prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors after an unhealthy air quality reading in the area. The state continues that caution for people living within a half-mile radius of the blaze.

Judson has said the association operated the dump on leased land from December 2003 to Dec. 31, 2016, after which it was covered with soil. Nobody monitored the site the last few years it was open, but staff members would remove trash when possible, he has said. The property is now owned by Brown’s Tree Care.

The association plan is to have the fire extinguished within 30 days, Judson said.

The 30-day period includes permanent control, abatement and extinction of the fire, Davis said. Sorting and removal of material will overlap in Phase 1 and Phase 2, she said.

The association is required to submit its Phase 2 plan to the Department of Environmental Quality for review within 60 days after completion of the first phase, Davis said. The next phase is to include site remediation.

The state started work to extinguish the fire before the Property Owners Association took over. The General Assembly appropriated $20 million for the project. Davis said May 3 that the state had spent an estimated $750,000, and the association is one of a number of parties the agency will try to get money from.

The fire can be put out for as little as $4 million, Judson has said.