Redman’s Recycling, of Kennewick, Wash., has paid a $2,000 fine to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for illegally burning prohibited materials at a salvage yard at Smith Frozen Foods Inc. in Weston, Ore.
A DEQ air quality specialist visited the property on Nov. 16, 2004, after receiving a report from the local fire department and a citizen complaint about a large plume of dense black smoke coming from a fire two days earlier. The air quality specialist observed charred remnants of machinery parts, oil filters and wiring at the property.
Redman informed DEQ that the fire started when flames from a blow torch that was in use to cut scrap metal at the site ignited nearby cardboard and spread to a scrap and waste pile.
Although Smith Frozen Foods, the property owner, contracted with Redman to recycle metal stockpiled in the company’s salvage yard, DEQ has no evidence the company authorized the burn. Given that Redman made no attempt to extinguish the fire, he was issued the penalty for causing and maintaining an illegal open burn.
Oregon law strictly prohibits the open burning of machinery parts, oil filters, wiring and any materials which normally emit black smoke or noxious odors into the atmosphere when burned. Smoke produced from burning prohibited materials creates a nuisance and poses a threat to the environment and public health of the young, elderly, and those with respiratory conditions. Toxic chemical exposure could have resulted from the material burned by Redman.