Firefighters working on smoldering fire on Terre Haute's north side

Nov. 29—For the past few days, Terre Haute and Sugar Creek fire departments have been responding to smoldering logs, stumps and compost materials on the southwest corner of Dennis Trucking Co. property.

Dennis Trucking offices are located at 2900 N. 25th St., and the smoldering materials are located in an area north of Maple Avenue and 18th Street.

"There is no danger for our residents or to the environment," said Bill Berry, Terre Haute fire chief. No hazardous materials or tires are involved and no illegal dumping has taken place there.

"There is no fire underground," he said.

The smoke is coming from numerous logs, stumps and compost materials that have been buried in a valley on the southwest corner of the property, Berry said. The items were pushed over a hillside and covered with dirt.

"It's been buried for a number of years," he said.

The Terre Haute Fire Department has responded, with assistance from a Sugar Creek Fire Department brush truck, to wet down the area, which has been isolated to the size of a basketball court.

"The owner of Dennis Trucking has been very compliant with helping to excavate the buried materials for our departments to extinguish," Berry stated. "As with all large compost pile fires, this could take days for the smoke to completely go away."

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has been on site "and concurs with how our department and the owners are remedying this scene," Berry said in the news release.

The smoldering materials are on private property and the owner is asking people to not go back there, Berry said.

The cause of the fire is ruled undetermined, he said.

He issued a news release in response to some public comment about the smoke, prompting media inquiries. "I want everyone to be aware that everything is fine and there is no danger out there," Berry said.

John Hanley, president of Dennis Trucking, said the company purchased the property in question — where some buildings had burned — a few years ago at a tax sale.

"We bought it to clean it up; it was adjacent to our property," Hanley said. "It's not even close to my office."

The area affected is nearly inaccessible. "We have a sand mining operation back there," he said.

When the company acquired the property, it tore the rest of the buildings down and pushed trees and brush over a hill to clear the area and reduce the potential for trespassing.

Still, trespassing does occur in that area, and individuals might have had a campfire that caused the other materials to catch fire and then smolder, Hanley said.

"We have had homeless encampments back there," he said.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at 812-231-4235 or at sue.loughlin@tribstar.com Follow Sue on Twitter @TribStarSue