Burning trash backs up U.S. 30 for miles
The Massillon Independent
MASSILLON - A load of burning garbage tied up the eastbound traffic on U.S. 30 just west of Massillon for about a half-hour at the height of rush hour Monday morning, backing up motorists almost all the way to Dalton.
“A Republic Waste truck driver noticed his load was on fire and pulled over to the (shoulder) and dumped his load,” Assistant Chief Stephen Collins said. “It was just east of the Ohio 241 exit. It was just outside the city limits but we took care of it anyway. We called a Brewster (Fire Department) tanker to help.”
Leaving a burning load on the truck would have destroyed the truck, Collins explained.
With a full load of burning trash on the shoulder, Collins said he had no choice but to shut both lanes down – at least until the fire was out.
“It was a mess,” he said. “When the (Ohio) State (Highway Patrol) trooper got there, she said we had traffic backed up to Dalton.”
Getting the fire out wasn’t easy either.
“There’s no water out there,” Collins said. “We have 500 gallons on the truck. We called our tanker. That has 1,800 gallons. We also had to call the Brewster tanker. I think that holds 3,000 gallons.”
But the blaze was persistent.
Collins said he called the Massillon Street Department and had a front-end loader sent to spread the trash out so it could be extinguished.
Inside the piles of garbage firefighters found 10 five-gallon containers of what he said he believed was a flammable substance.
“That’s probably what started it,” Collins said.
Massillon Police assisted closing down U.S. 30 down shortly after 7 a.m. and eventually turned over traffic control to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Collins said.
Traffic flow was restored to normal around 7:40 a.m.
