Waste tires continue to burn Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at the closed Cottonport Monofill waste tire processing plant in rural Avoyelles Parish. The fire has been burning since Sunday, Jan. 16, and state officials can't yet say when it will be extinguished.
Firefighters continue to put water on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, on a raging tire fire at the closed Cottonport Monofill plant in rural Avoyelles Parish. The fire has been burning since Sunday, Jan. 16.
Waste tires continue to burn Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at the closed Cottonport Monofill waste tire processing plant in rural Avoyelles Parish. The fire has been burning since Sunday, Jan. 16, and state officials can't yet say when it will be extinguished.
Firefighters continue to put water on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, on a raging tire fire at the closed Cottonport Monofill plant in rural Avoyelles Parish. The fire has been burning since Sunday, Jan. 16.
A tire fire burning for four days in rural Avoyelles Parish prompted state corrections officials Thursday to relocate about 1,500 inmates from the nearby Raymond Laborde Correctional Center after shifting winds sent smoke into the prison.
The fire, which was 35% contained on Thursday, is raging at the closed Cottonport Monofill plant and has proven difficult to contain because of its remote location and a lack of access to water, state officials said.
"Those challenges have led to the involvement of private resources in the suppression efforts, which are ongoing. The investigation is also active and ongoing," State Fire Marshal Chief H. “Butch” Browning said in a joint statement with DEQ.
State Department of Environmental Quality officials could not say when the fire would be out because the shifting winds are also "complicating firefighting efforts." But they said the fire is contained to the processing plant's property.
DEQ officials didn't describe how much material was available to burn at the old plant, but a March 2019 DEQ inspection found more than 100,000 tires on the property and a large area of spilled hydraulic fluid on the ground, an agency report says.
Fire departments from Cottonport and the surrounding area have responded to the blaze that began Sunday off F.P. Bordelon Road in Cottonport. So have the State Fire Marshal’s Office and DEQ.
Heavy equipment is digging dirt and using it to smother the burning tires. More equipment is also being moved in and water is being pumped from ponds on the property, DEQ officials said.
Lights were being set up so workers could continue putting water on the fire through the night, DEQ officials said.
State corrections officials said prisoners were evacuated from the state prison "out of an abundance of caution." The prison is about 300 yards south of the old processing facility, but fire and smoke hadn't been an issue until the winds shifted, they said.
“Staff and buses from Raymond Laborde Correctional Center and other state prisons are being used to move prisoners to locations that will remain undisclosed for security reasons. State Probation and Parole officers are providing additional support and security in regards to evacuating prisoners," said Ken Pastorick, DOC communications director.
He added the prisoners, who were being required to wear masks during the evacuation because of COVID, will be allowed to call family once it is finished.
DEQ officials said air monitoring has been set up and tiny particulates have been picked up, but they didn't have more details Thursday.
Greg Langley, a DEQ spokesman, said the fire is in an isolated area with few residences besides the prison.
Cottonport Monofill started operating in the mid-1990s, and soon became the source of repeated state environmental violations and compliance orders for stacking waste tires too high and wide and — sometimes without required fire lanes, state reports show.
Later, regulators had circled in on the then-closed plant as they tried to bring it into compliance for its shutdown.
At the time of a February 2021 inspection, DEQ officials found 26 piles of waste tires, some as much as 15 to 20 feet tall.
The plant has been abandoned by its owner for several years after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The waste tire plant has been held by a bank since May 2016.
Early last year, the bank reported it was negotiating with a party to buy and restart the plant, a DEQ report says.
Email David J. Mitchell at dmitchell@theadvocate.com
Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.
After a 10-day-long firefighting battle, piles of burning waste tires that sent black plumes of smoke high into the sky over a rural part of c…
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