By STEVE GRAY
POLICE are investigating if there are any suspicious circumstances after a huge fire erupted at the Warwick dump on Tuesday night.
Three urban fire trucks and five rural crews joined council employees at the Morgan Park waste management facility after the alarm was raised at about 6.15pm.
The fire was visible kilometres away.
Several rural fire teams returned on Wednesday morning to backburn around the smouldering heaps of rubbish which cover about half an acre of the dump. The fire is expected to burn for two weeks, firefighters said.
Detective Ryan Harmer of Warwick CIB said while there was no immediate evidence of arson the blaze needs to be investigated.
“They’ve got good (CCTV) footage here, so we’ll see if anyone’s come on the block,” Det Harmer said.
Dump management contractor Michael Smith said while spontaneous combustion was a possible cause, the fire didn’t appear to have started in a pile of mulch.
“We don’t really know what caused it but we’re leaving it to the council and the police,” Mr Smith said.
Rural Fire Service District Officer Alan Payne said backburning operations will prevent the fire spreading.
“If it gets in that landfill it’ll burn for years,” he said.
He said the fire will be allowed to burn out.
“We’ve got no intention of even trying to put it out.”
