An overnight fire at the Hall County landfill on Overlook Drive kept firefighters and landfill personnel busy for hours.
Hall County Fire Services Capt. Zachary Brackett said the fire was reported just before midnight.
"We were on the scene for several hours along with personnel from the landfill, both extinguishing with water and then the landfill personnel were moving the rubbish and allowing us to extinguish and also covering it [the fire] with dirt, which helped to smother it," Brackett said.
Because the trash is stacked in layers at the landfill, that made the effort a little trickier, according to Brackett.
"You don't know how deep it is, but luckily with it being at the landfill, they have heavy machinery that's able to move large quantities of material, so you can get a better handle on it," Brackett said.
At this time, the fire does not appear to be suspicious in nature, although there's no known cause. Brackett pointed out that decomposition of trash can generate heat, so that could be behind the cause, but investigators will have to make that determination.
Brackett said there were no injuries.
The Hall County landfill covers a total of 255 acres with 94.2 acres designated for garbage, according to Hall County Solid Waste officials.
