Workers using an alternative heating method in abominably cold weather Wednesday morning sparked a fire at a mountain landfill.
The fire broke out about 9:40 a.m. at the Summit County landfill, just off U.S. 6 between Keystone Resort and Dillon, said Steve Lipsher, a Lake Dillon Fire-Rescue spokesman.
Workers at the landfill put a pan holding lit charcoal under a semi tractor’s oil pan in an attempt to help heat the engine in minus 30-degree weather, and the tractor caught fire.
“This is one of those things that is directly related to the weather,” Lipsher said. “They had a unique adaptation for handling it.”
No one was injured.
Two fire engines and seven firefighters raced to the dump to douse the fire. The tractor and two trailers, used to move refuse around, were damaged.
“It was an accidental fire,” Lipsher said. “They clearly didn’t mean to torch the truck.”
It took firefighters about an hour to put out the blaze and mop up.
Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post
