Alabama regulators, emergency responders, state legislators and local government groups today said they will study the state’s response to a landfill fire near Birmingham that has been burning since November to see if changes to state laws or regulations are needed.

“It’s up to us to figure out from A to Z, where do we start, what happened, where did we fail?” said Sen. Lance Bell, R-Pell City, who represents the district that includes the landfill.

“We’ve got to make sure this works better for our citizens.”

State officials announced the formation of a working group to study the situation at a press conference at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management headquarters in Montgomery on Friday morning.

The fire was first reported on Nov. 25 at the Environmental Landfill, Inc., about 15 miles northeast of Birmingham between the suburbs of Moody and Trussville.

In the initial response to the fire, local authorities including the Moody Fire Department and St. Clair County Commission assumed the primary roles responding to the fire, with ADEM acting in an advisory capacity. The local authorities had no experience dealing with this kind of situation, and there was often confusion over who was in charge.

“Government failed those people that live in that area of keeping them safe, safe from the products from that fire,” Bell said after the press conference.

“[The fire impacted] Their homes, their vehicles, their clothes, but more importantly, their health,” Bell said. “We’ve got to do a better job, and I hope with this group together, that we can do a better job and address those issues.”

ADEM does not regulate “green waste” landfills like the one that’s burning, even though unauthorized material was found at the site repeatedly in the years leading up to the fire.

Smoke blanketed the nearby communities for weeks, causing reports of health problems like headaches, breathing issues, nosebleeds, and trouble sleeping. Some residents left their homes to escape the smoke and others resorted to DIY air purifiers and using painters’ tape to seal their windows and doors to keep the smoke out.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took over response to the fire on January 18, after air samples near the fire showed elevated levels of known carcinogens. The EPA is still working to put out the fire, but the amount of smoke leaving the site has declined since the agency arrived.

According to ADEM, the group will “assess whether changes in laws, regulations and resources are needed,” to better respond to future emergencies.

“The underground fire was an unprecedented event that unfortunately affected numerous residents,” ADEM Director Lance LeFleur said at the news conference. “It also showed gaps in the authority and ability of both state and local governmental agencies to respond and effectively deal with it.

“No agency in the state had the resources or expertise to extinguish such a fire.”

LeFleur said at the news conference that there is no time table for the group to produce its recommendations or when changes to the laws or regulations might be made.

“We don’t want to put a deadline on it,” LeFleur said. “We’re all committed to doing what’s necessary to make sure we address the entire situation.”

The working group includes:

• ADEM
• Alabama Forestry Commission
• Alabama Emergency Management Agency
• Association of County Commissions of Alabama
• Alabama League of Municipalities
• Alabama State Senate
• Alabama House of Representatives

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EPA responds to Alabama landfill fire