U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

HTTPS

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Rosebud Reservation Tire Fire

 
Site Contact:
Kerry Guy
OSC

(guy.kerry@epa.gov)

Site Location:
Carter, SD 57580
 response.epa.gov/rosebudreservationtirefire

During the week of October 3, 2011, a very large wildfire swept through parts of the Rosebud Indian Reservation inbetween Mission and Carter, SD. On October 5, 2011, this wildfire ignited a pile of appoximately 200,000 tires located near the Rosebud Sioux Tribal (RST) Solid Waste Landfill. On October 6, 2011, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe requested assistance from EPA in extinguishing the fire. OSC Kerry Guy, along with START and ERRS crews were deployed at 1330 MDT from Denver, arriving at the RST at approximately 2230 CDT. Fire suppression activities began on October 7, 2011


Pushing pile into trench. Soil is pushed over layers of the pile as it is pushed into trench. Mixing soil with pile and pushing into trench October 8 Approximately 1/3 of the original tire pile remains after fire swept through the area two days before. The remaining pile is very hot underneach and continues to create significant smoke. Trenching around the pile. Soil from trenching place next to the pile for covering the pile contents once it is pushed into trench and mixed with soil. Excavator on west side of pile continuting with trenching. Soil is placed onto pile for fire suppression and mixing witht he pile debris as the excavator pushed layers of the the pile into trench on west side. Excavator digging trench upwind on east side of pile Excavator pushing through the pile from west side (upwind) Bulldozer pushing through the pile from the west on upwind side 85 percent of pile has been mixed with soil, pushed into the trench and covered. site 100 percent out. Contents of pile has been worked into trench and covered.
For additional information, visit the Pollution/Situation Report (Pol/Sitreps) section.