After over two months of burning, the cleanup of the Iowa City Landfill is finally scheduled to begin today.



On May 26, the Iowa City Landfill caught fire and erupted into what would be a two month long fire that would burn much of the 7 1/2 acre landfill, doing an unbelievable amount of damage to the landfill over a two month period.

The fire was unable to be controlled initially because of the material being burned and spread rapidly over much of the large landfill. The city went through many problems with it including the shredded tire lining of the landfill being burned, hazardous smoke, and even a flammable material being created as the waste burned.

Not even the rain could put out the flames and the city just had to wait it out until it slowed down. They put a clay mixture over the flames and stifled them for the most part, which eliminated much of the problem, but the burning has not completely stopped under the clay.

Finally, the fire has stopped enough for the city to start work on cleanup from the fire. This process of uncovering the debris may produce some smoke, according to reports on qctimes.com, because some of the debris that will be uncovered may be still burning, as the fire is not completely out.

The still-burning material is able to be extinguished once it is uncovered, so work will begin. It is expected to last about two months, after which reconstruction of the landfill will begin.