(Arnolds Park)– Firefighters with the Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Department spent several hours Tuesday battling a fire in a semi trailer loaded with garbage at the Waste Management Landfill east of Arnolds Park.
Mark Petersen of the Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Department tells KUOO news the fire was burning in the bottom of the semi trailer. He says they couldn’t dump it out as it was parked on top of some other garbage. As a result, Petersen says they had to flood the trailer with water. He says some equipment was brought in to partially unload the trailer, putting out hot spots as they went. 13-thousand gallons of water and several hours later, Petersen says they were finally able to completely put out the fire.
The cause isn’t certain. Petersen says the trailer, which was from St. James, Minnesota, had been loaded Monday and the driver didn’t discover the smoke until he was getting ready to unload it Tuesday.
Damage was contained to the trailer as the driver quickly detached the tractor.
Firefighters were called to the scene around 8:00 a.m. They were there until about Noon.
About 14 firefighters responded to the scene.
The Arnolds Park-Okoboji Fire Department was assisted by the Milford Fire Department, which provided tanker support.
No injuries were reported.
