A months-long landfill fire in Alabama reveals waste regulation gaps

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/12/ [login to see] /months-long-landfill-fire-alabama-reveals-waste-regulation-gaps
The smell started seeping into Krissy Harmon's home late at night the weekend after Thanksgiving.

"I actually thought the house was on fire," Harmon recalled.

The acrid burning smell wasn't coming from Harmon's home. A nearby landfill in St. Clair County, Ala., had just ignited — and it wouldn't stop burning for months.

The landfill, which makes up more than 13 acres, initially sent flames above the tree line and blanketed the area in smoke. Daniel Cash, who lives down the street from the landfill, said the smoke and flames had spread so high that a colorful haze filled the sky.

"It looked like a sunset from the colors of the fire and the smoke in the air and the vast area of it," Cash recalled as he prepared for his shift at the nearby Waffle House.

For almost two months after that night, homes near the landfill were inundated with smoke and fumes. Some days, depending on the wind's direction, people 20 miles away in Birmingham reported smelling the emissions.