Escambia County has mobilized work crews from Waste Services, Public Safety and the Road Department to address the ongoing fire at the Rolling Hills Landfill, located at 6990 Rolling Hills Road. The county successfully worked through issues with the property owner, South Palafox Properties, and at approximately 12:30 this afternoon entered the landfill. South Palafox Properties agreed that it was unable to provide the necessary resources to extinguish the fire and will be invoiced for the mobilization of county resources.
Three firefighting brush trucks along with bulldozers and dump trucks are working to first bring down the smoke and then use dirt to smother the fire. Crews will be on scene daily until sunset until the fire is extinguished.
The fire is in a large mound of land clearing debris located in the southeast area of the property designated for land clearing debris disposal. The fire is not in the C&D area of the landfill currently being remediated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The Florida Department of Health in Escambia County has issued an air quality health advisory in response to associated smoke from the brush fire. Air quality monitoring performed by the Escambia County Natural Resources Management Department near the facility has revealed elevated levels of small particulate matter in the air likely associated with smoke from the fire. Nearby residents are advised to protect against smoke exposure. For more information, view the advisory here. Hydrogen sulfide gas, or H2S, levels should not be impacted. Residents can view values of the gas online by clicking here.
Since revoking Rolling Hills Landfill’s permit in 2014, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection was able to get court approval to close the landfill. Working with state contractors, surveyors and landfill closure experts, FDEP developed a comprehensive closure design based on current site conditions, and the contractor began work in the fall of 2016. A vast majority of the onsite work has been completed. However, weather has caused some delays, and the project is expected to be completed at the end of this month.
