Heather Wright/The Independent

One Lambton County fire chief says contractors have to take more care where their leaving biosolids fertilizer after a major field fire near Oil Springs.

Saturday, around 7 pm Dawn-Euphemia firefighters were called to Dawn Valley Road between Aberfeldy and Edys Mills Line for a field fire.

“I was still responding when my pumper arrived on scene, and he said the bale stack is completely on fire. There’s a combine on fire, and it’s not far from an old barn with combines,” said Chief Don Ewing.

Oil Springs/South Enniskillen firefighters joined the fight for over four hours. About 25 people were in the field Saturday.

The wheat field had been harvested, but Ewing says biosolids fertilizer left on site for application later combusted and spread to the field.

“The wheat straw was bailed and stacked maybe 100 feet from the biosolids, and with that wind Saturday, when the bio solid started to burn, the wind pushed it across in the wheat stubble and caught the stack of bales on fire,” says Ewing. “A stack of (at least 100 large) bales were there, that were completely on fire when we got there.”

Blazes involving straw are stubborn. Ewing said an excavator was called in to tear the wheat pile down and spread it out. “We were extinguishing it as best we can, but straw you can’t… no matter how much water we put on that, it was going to ignite again.”

Around the same time, St Clair Township firefighters were called to a fire on Pretty Line. A biosolids fertilizer pile there was also smouldering.

Chief Richard Boyes says firefighters started to put water on the pile but were stopped by the contractor.

The contractor, Lasalle Agri, arrived and asked them not to put water on the pile saying it was easier to spread out if it remained dry. Spreading the fertilizer pile out or covering the material are the only ways to stop the combustion.

Sunday morning, Ewing says the department was called back to the field around 7 am. Lasalle Agri was also called and brought in a straw spreader to help spread the material out. “I’m sure they’re used to dealing with that because it sounded like they have been dealing with it all week,” said Ewing.

The chief believes the material should not have been stored so close to the dry wheat field.

“The biosolids were being stored in the wheat field;  they were dumped on standing wheat a while ago. …They harvested the wheat around it, and with the heat, last few days, the biosolid started to heat and then started combusting in the wheat.”

Ewing and Boyes noted combustion fires in the fertilizer were more common several years ago. At one point, Dawn-Euphemia considered charging the company for the fire calls saying they were becoming too frequent.

Monday, St. Clair Township Councillor Brad Langstaff questioned whether  the fires were considered a spill.

“It’s not considered a spill. We notified the MECP more on the fact that it was smoldering and burning and releasing to the air,” said Boyes adding  “They (Lasalle Agri) thought they had a solution over the years to stop it from heating, but obviously something has changed.”

The company’s representative told the fire department the “best bet” was to spread the product in the field to stop combustion. 

But that took some time in St. Clair, since the company was dealing with the larger fire near Oil Springs as well.

“I think you and your staff are monitoring the costs associated with attending these nuisances,” Langstaff said. “I look forward to continuing to follow along with that and making sure that it’s not being a double burden on the taxpayers.”

Boyes said if the calls do become more frequent, the department can recoup the costs, “but it would go back to the landowner, not the contractor,” he told Langstaff.

For Ewing, the key to the problem is more care before a fire starts. 

“If they’re going to pile it in a wheat field, as far as I’m concerned, the ground should be scraped to bare ground, at least five feet out from the edge of the pile… Because it’s not going to run on bare ground…(there needs to be) a little more care and consideration on where they’re dumping it.”