S. F. Royster Tire Fire - Tracy

08-AUG-98 -- In Northern California, a fire at a pit holding (m) millions of tires is expected to burn for about two weeks. So far, no injuries are reported. The blaze shot a thick plume of black smoke more than six-thousand feet into the air that could be seen as far away as Sacramento and Fresno. Authorities say they won't put the fire out because the tires are made of petroleum.

The fire began late Friday afternoon at the 20-acre Royster's Tire Farm...( S F ROYSTER TIRE DISPOSAL (209)835-8054 29425 S.MACARTHUR DR, Tracy, CA 95376 ) and is expected to burn and smolder for the next two weeks.

Modesto BEE had a small story on the tire fire. The cloud was frightening enough that the Stanislaus County 911 call Center was deluged with calls from people wanting to know if the smokey sky was the beginning of Armageddon.
 
 

1-2003

Tracy tire fire cleanup 
The company that cleaned up the remnants of the torched Westley tire pile may be tapped to do the same work at the Royster tire pile south of Tracy. An estimated 7 million illegally discarded tires there caught fire in August 1998 and burned for almost two and a half years. Tuesday, a committee of the California Integrated Waste Management Board recommended that the full panel, at its meeting next week, hire Sukut Construction Inc. of Orange County for the $8 million, four-year cleanup. It will be dirty work; besides thousands of tons of tire ash and steel radials, there is an unknown amount of melted tire residue at the bottom of the pit. In October 2001, Sukut won what at the time was an $11 million contract to clean up the Westley pile. The work, however, ultimately cost $16 million. -- Jim Miller

    ( August 12, 1998 )           Tracy tire fire teaches us  smoky lesson 
                           "I'm like up to here with it now,"
                                            By Peter H. King / California Notebook 
 

People as far away as Sacramento and Merced counties reported they could see the smoke,which hangs like a gray haze over the Central Valley as far south as Fresno. "It looks like a bomb hit it. You see the pits, and you've got these fires burning all around," said Deputy Mike Padilla, of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department.

County officials met with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigators to decide whether the dump would qualify as a hazardous waste site in need of federal oversight.(tax payer money) In addition to the problem of disposing of the stockpiled tires, the state's largest such dump, authorities are also concerned over possible health hazards in connection with the fire. Firefighters were not allowed to use water to douse the flames because it would create a runoff of toxic oils that could pollute local streams and groundwater supplies, authorities said. "They're a petroleum product. When tires heat up, they turn into a liquid petroleum product, and they just lay there and burn," Padilla said. "There's nothing good about it." The California Air resources board was expected to have results back today from tests measuring carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrocarbons being emitted from the fire. Meanwhile, health officials have warned people with respiratory problems to stay indoors. The smaller particles can get into their lungs and some scientists believe the chemicals can cause allergic reactions and asthma, one expert said. The cause of the fire, which was reported at 5 p.m. Friday, is unknown. The state fire marshal is investigating.

In a separate count, the indictment charges that Royster's sale of the boat in November was a transaction involving "property derived from unlawful activity, that is, bankruptcy fraud." To comply with a court order, the $127,049.35 net proceeds from the sale went to an attorney's trust account to be divided between Royster and his ex-wife. The indictment seeks forfeiture of the money to the government. It also accuses Royster of failing to include in his bankruptcy petition the sale of apartments within the year preceding the bankruptcy filing. The apartments, located in Patterson, were sold in August 1992. As part of his continuing attempts to thwart satisfaction of the Pennsylvania judgment against him, Royster cashed the $140,300 net-proceeds check and put the currency in his home safe, the indictment says. In his petition for bankruptcy 10 1/2 months later, Royster said he had no cash on hand.

8-31-98 Foul Air Continues - (BAY AREA) -- The latest heatwave has the Bay Area in the midst of what could be the worst stretch ever... of bad air quality. The Air Quality Management District says today is the fourth consecutive spare-the-air day... and indications are tomorrow could be an unprecedented fifth. With that in mind, people are asked to follow the usual drill: don't drive unless you have to, forego the charcoal lighter if you're barbecuing, and don't mow the lawn if you've got a gas mower.

TRACY --Four weeks to the day after it started, a fire continues to burn in the remnants of 7 million tires in an illegal pile southwest of the city. Authorities have classified the fire's cause as undetermined, according to Tony Guevara, an investigator with the California Department of Forestry. Sometimes you're just not going to know what the cause was," Guevara said. Heavy equipment used to fight the Aug. 7 fire, as well as people milling about before the scene was secured, destroyed evidence that could have pinpointed the cause of the blaze at Royster Tire Co., he said. Officials initially blamed the disaster on a brush-clearing operation that sparked a grass fire that spread to the tire pit. Authorities decided early on to let the fire burn itself out because of worries that putting water on the blaze would lead to water seeping into the aquifer. Today, wisps of smoke are occasionally visible, and officials say a haze of heat shimmers over the rubbery skin that has formed over the pile. San Joaquin County sheriff's deputies and Teichert Construction, which owns the property, have closed the South MacArthur Avenue site to spectators. Meanwhile, the tire pile's owner, Silas F. Royster, died Aug. 18 from cancer. Royster had a history of feuds with state regulators and they were moving to shut him down. As they have since the fire's outbreak, 
                                                                           
county, state and federal environmental officials continue to monitor the air and ground next to the tire pit for contamination. when the the fire stops burning and the residue cools, analysts will be able to enter the pit and get a better assessment of problems. Officials will decide then whether the pit should be declared a Superfund cleanup site. Sooner or later we're going to have to get into the pit and dig around," said Bill Lewis of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. "I don't think anyone has an estimate on when that will be." Tentative results of soil and ground-water samples taken last month show the tire pile sits atop a clay layer from 8 feet to 20 feet thick, and that no tire residue has seeped into the water. Moreover, officials said, it appears that the ground-water table lies some 50 feet away. The government continues to monitor air quality around the site. County environmental health workers are focusing their efforts on people who live across from the tire pile. All things considered, officials said, the tire fire and its aftermath could have been EVEN worse.
"This fire came out so hot and fast, it created its own flue and the smoke went up high," state EPA spokesman Jim Spanknole said.

Read more about congresman Gary Condit's record
Tire piles and FREE SPEECH from
news radio expert John Anderson
Check out gary conduit on this page!
The Radio Hall of Shame: Gary Condit

Royster himself climbed onto a bulldozer to fight the blaze, Nesin said. Even after he collapsed and was helped off the dozer by family and employees at a nearby rock quarry, Royster climbed back up a second time, he said. "He was one of those stubborn, old guys who was going to do it his way," Nesin said. "Then after the fire, there was no energy left in him. It was like the stuffing had been knocked out of him." Royster had been locked in a legal battle with the state for years over regulating the massive tire farm. He contested an order for a cleanup, saying his tire dump predated the California Integrated Waste Management Board. In 1985, Shasta County supervisors revoked Royster's use permit for a second site near Anderson after neighbors called the farm an eyesore and hazard. Last Friday, in a separate proceeding, a federal grand jury in Sacramento returned a bankruptcy fraud indictment charging Royster with concealing a 53-foot boat, "Baby's Toy," and $140,000 in cash from his creditors. A no-bail warrant was issued for his arrest. Prosecutors said Thursday that the case would be dropped, prosecutors said. It was unclear who would pay for the tire fire cleanup, said Jim Spagnole, a spokesman for the California Environmental Protection Agency. Royster, a Naval veteran who was a volunteer sheriff's deputy and a member of the air squadron reserve for San Joaquin County, will be buried in a military funeral at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery near Santa Nella, said Ned McCrory, owner of McCrory Funeral Home in Pinegrove.

8-14-98 Cal/EPA Multi-Agency Task Force Meets for Continued Management of Royster Tire Fire of 1998 WE can see from this report that the EPA wont help the public, The Integrated Waste Management Board and U.S. EPA representatives dont work for thePublic.... thier boss is big Bizz......
 

                          8-14-98 Cal/EPA Multi-Agency Task Force Meets for Continued Management of
                          Royster Tire Fire of 1998 WE can see from this report that the EPA wont help the
                          public, The Integrated Waste Management Board and U.S. EPA representatives
                          dont work for thePublic.... thier boss is big Bizz...... 

            Tire fire cloud packed with poisons ( benzene ) : BEE STORY
                                            By Kathie A. Smith 
                                            Bee Capitol Bureau 
                                            (Published: Wednesday, October 14, 1998) 
 
 
* UPDATE 12-2000 *

TRACY -- State officials plan to douse the remnants of a tire fire next week, more than two
years after the blaze ignited, spewing smoke over the valley.

12-06-2000 * Years after the tire fire started, and long after the owner's death ! *
As heavy equipment started taking apart the piles of smoldering ash
- the way one stirs a campfire -
flames erupted from the oil-soaked debris.

• More Newspaper storys on Tire Fires CLICK HERE   type 'tire fire' into the box and hit search 

Aug 10, 1998 Tire dump fire spews soot,toxic smoke  in  Tracy 
•                    By Jane Kay  EXAMINER ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

• 8-8-99 One year and it's still burning.... TRACY -- Soon after a tire pit ignited a year ago, officials decided to let the fire burn itself out. Today, they're still waiting. CLICK HERE