Expert to decide if landfill on fire

By Bob Downing and Dennis Williard
The Akron Beacon Journal

EAST SPARTA - A California expert on landfill fires, who in June alerted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to problems at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County, is to begin meeting in Columbus today with EPA personnel.

Todd Thalhamer has been hired by the agency to determine whether the landfill is on fire and, if so, how large the fire might be and what can be done about it.

"I'm not riding in on a white horse,'' he said Tuesday. "I'm just trying to help.... The goal is simple: To determine where we are and what we need to do.''...Read more.