Four-day manure blaze tamed with wet cow poop

By The Associated Press

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Desperate times called for desperate measures, said Assistant Fire Chief Larry Hoffman with Whatcom County Fire District No. 7.

Hoffman received an earful of complaints about the smoke and odor as the fire burned for four days on the farm outside Ferndale.

"We're not the most popular department in town," he said. "It's offensive, the smell is. It stinks."

How bad?

"In your worst nightmare, if you can imagine burning manure combined with a brush fire — this sort of woody undertone."

After working with water and foam, crews Tuesday began spraying the wet manure, which squelched flames on the leading edge of the fire.

Yesterday, a giant pump applied another layer of wet manure — and that seemed to do the trick.

"It's out!" Hoffman said last night, at least "about 98-99 percent out," although some small pockets were still burning in the crust.

As many as 18 firefighters at a time worked on the blaze. A fire break had been dug around the pond, so the flames couldn't leap elsewhere on the 1,200-acre, 700-head dairy farm, Hoffman said.

He declined to identify the owners but said they had been "extremely cooperative."

The cause of the fire was not known. It started Sunday in brush growing on the dry 3- to 14-foot crust of manure, wood chips and barn shavings on the surface of the 24-foot-deep lagoon.

"We're investigating the possibility it was an errant cigarette butt, or it could be spontaneous combustion from composting," Hoffman said, describing the lagoon as "basically a big compost pile."

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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