Fearing ‘spontaneous combustion,’ Snohomish County closes two dumps to deal with growing trash...

Snohomish County is closing its two main transfer stations to deal with a growing pile of trash that officials fear could heat up to the point of starting on fire.

Snohomish County Solid Waste announced an emergency closure last weekend and for the coming weekend at its Everett and Mountlake Terrace transfer stations, where garbage trucks deposit trash before it’s taken to a landfill.

The problem isn’t the garbage itself, but the transportation needed to move it. The railroad company that normally hauls the garbage to a landfill in Eastern Washington is suffering from a staffing shortage.