Landfill blaze extinguished

• Landfill fire

Dickinson Rural Fire Department volunteers put out a fire at the Dickinson landfill Thursday evening.

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Firefighters had a blaze at the Dickinson landfill out at about 10 Thursday night, but a cause could not be determined, Dickinson Rural Fire Department Chief Curt Lefor said Friday, adding the department responded to three other incidents Friday.

Thick black smoke filled the Dickinson skyline and 15 firefighters responded to the landfill blaze at about 6 p.m. Thursday. There were no injuries, and the community was never in danger, Lefor said.

Firefighters used about 12,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire and Lefor said the cause will not be determined.

Dickinson Ambulance stood by and Stark County helped haul water. Fisher Industries also voluntarily hauled water to the scene.

Lefor said the department has responded to the landfill for fires two or three times over the past few years.

Busy Friday for Dickinson Rural

After a late night Thursday, Dickinson Rural Fire Department firefighters started their Friday with a call at 7 a.m. to head up Highway 22 for a vehicle accident.

Fifteen volunteers extricated a man from a pickup truck. They were on scene for about an hour.

Firefighters were then called to a 500-gallon propane tank leak at the top of Radar Base Hill at about 11:30 a.m. Friday.

“The release valve had failed and we put a fog stream over the top of it to contain the vapors,” Lefor said.

The department asked that area power be shut off as to not provide any extra ignition sources, Stark County Emergency Manager Brent Pringle said.

When standard power is cut off, the county has an emergency power system that kicks on immediately so communications were not affected, he said.

At 1:30 p.m., the firefighters responded to a grass fire northeast of Dickinson, which was sparked while a farmer was cutting hay. A couple of acres burned and the firefighters had the blaze out in about an hour.

The temperature was about 90 degrees.

“It feels like it’s 140,” Lefor joked.

The Dickinson Rural Fire Department is 100 percent volunteer, Lefor said, adding “we’d like to thank the employers of all the guys who let them (leave work to) go to the fires and put them out.”

— Lisa Call contributed to this story.

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