Owatonna Compost Facility fire contained with help from area departments

At 11:49 a.m. Friday, Sept. 11, the Owatonna Fire Department received a call regarding a fire at the Owatonna Compost Facility. In 4 minutes, OFD had units on site and was coordinating its response alongside fire departments from Medford and Waseca, with assistance from Owatonna Public Works and the third-party contractors responsible for managing the facility.

Upon OFD’s arrival, the roughly 80-foot-wide by 150-foot-long compost pile was engulfed in flames ranging from 10 to 15 feet tall, and it took the 16 personnel on site around 5 1/2 hours to completely quell the blaze, which Owatonna Fire Department Commander Ben Staska said started with a spark.

“It was essentially a spark from equipment that they had on site that ended up starting it,” Staska said. “However, realistically it was a wind driven fire. When you have 20 to 30 mile an hour straight line winds coming out of the south it can exacerbate a situation like the compost site. As much rain as we think we’ve had recently most of that material is still dry.”

Putting out a fire this size, with as much fuel as is provided by the compost, takes much more than fire hoses. In addition to the firefighters, a major component of the effort was heavy machinery. Owatonna Public Works supplied 2 front loaders, third-party facility operators By the Yard supplied a front-end loader and unaffiliated landscaping company From the Ground Up brought in 2 more front-end loaders and an excavator. All of which Staska said was crucial in removing the fuel from the inferno.

“Fire is going to want to burn all the fuel that’s available. So, the only way to stop something like that, or at least mitigate it, is to tear the fuel away from the fire,” Staska said. “So, the front-end loaders can go in and scoop material out or push the brush and logs away for us to be able to extinguish both what they pushed out and the material deeper in the pile. Then it’s a matter of repeating the process until we can get it completely torn apart.”

Staska said that while the Owatonna and Medford fire departments battled the blaze, personnel from the Waseca Fire Department manned the fort should another situation arise, which allowed those on scene to focus on the task at hand.

“It was a big-time team effort. Owatonna Public Works department provided heavy equipment and operators, the Medford fire department assisted on site, and the Waseca fire department came and covered our station for a period of time while we were on scene,” Staska said. “It’s common practice in the fire service as you never want to leave your city or the rest of your district uncovered. It takes an all hands-on deck approach to handle a call like that.”

Mitchell Mulert is the owner of “By the Yard,” the third-party company responsible for operating the Owatonna Compost Facility. He also owns From the Ground Up, a commercial maintenance and residential landscape design and build company, from which, despite being unaffiliated with By the Yard, they were able to borrow some of the heavy machinery.

Mulert said that while they have measures in place to limit the scale of the piles, they plan to be even more active in implementing preventive measures in the future.

“We really try to minimize the size of the brush piles and logs. Before we took it over the piles were easily an acre or larger and we have condensed that down to one quarter of an acre and we grind more frequently,” Mulert said. “However, the goal is to grind even more frequently to reduce it, and we keep a water truck out there just in case this stuff happens, but we may start watering down the pile more frequently when we know strong winds from the south might happen. So, just more preventative measures.”

Damage to the site was minimal, and Mulert said the extent of the loss equates to a couple thousand dollars in burned material. However, Mulert recognizes that the potential damage done by the fire could have been much worse if it weren’t for the aid they received from the Owatonna, Medford and Waseca fire departments in conjunction with Owatonna Public Works.

“The fire departments did phenomenal. They were timely and brought a really good group of people out and utilized all available resources,” Mulert said. “The problem with a pile that size goes from bad to worse quick and they kept it from getting worse. Big thanks to the firefighters and Public Works who helped get it out alongside our guys.”

As Owatonna enters the fall season, Staska recommended that residents burn responsibly and within state guidelines to avoid the unintentional spread of fire, which, as the Owatonna Compost Facility has made evident, can become unmanageable with a spark and a strong breeze.

“The biggest thing within city limits is you need to be burning clean, split, or cut dry wood. We advise people not to burn garbage, leaves or cardboard. With that in mind also use a fire ring. I believe the maximum size is a 3-foot-by-3-foot fire ring in town. The Minnesota State DNR has daily updates on their website of when you can and cannot burn and when you do and do not need a permit,” Staska said. “So, if people pay attention to those things and abide by those rules it tends to mitigate the stuff getting out of hand.”