Acres of ice storm debris go up in smoke

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- What came down in January's ice storm went up in a spectacular, controlled bonfire of tree limbs and other debris collected from Greene County and stacked 15 feet high across 15 acres.

Wednesday's burn took place at an 80-acre site west of Springfield, one of three in southwest Missouri where crews from DRC Emergency Services have been dumping truckloads of ice storm debris.

The company so far has collected 1.45 million cubic yards of debris in Springfield and Greene County.

Ignited with newspapers, Wednesday's fire sent smoke 2,000 feet into the air, where winds carried it aloft and created a trail nearly 30 miles long. The smoke was so thick it showed up on the National Weather Service radar at the Springfield-Branson National Airport, where fine ash fell on the tarmac and parked cars.

"This morning's weather conditions were absolutely perfect for a burn," said Perry Windle, manager of the burn site.

A crane moving debris was dwarfed by a vortex created by smoke from the fire burning outside of Springfield Wednesday morning. (Jess Heugel ~ News-Leader)

By late afternoon, only a mound of ash and glowing coals remained.

DRC officials initially hoped to turn the huge debris pile at Brookline into recyclable wood chips. But DRC was unable to find any companies willing to take on the chipping project, according to DRC vice president Paul Persons.

Burning the debris will continue at least through the end of the month, he said.

DRC also has a 20-acre site near Rogersville and a 48-acre site north of Willard.

Residents living near the Willard site met with Greene County commissioners Wednesday hoping to shut it down because of smoke, noise and damage to nearby roads from heavy debris trucks.

Presiding Commissioner Dave Coonrod apologized for the inconvenience.

"There won't be another site like this out there again," he promised. "You learn from your experiences. Looking back with 20/20 vision, the county could have been more engaged in the selection of this site."

Windle, the DRC manager, said the Willard site would be the first to close, possibly by the end of the month.

About 250,000 cubic yards of debris has been trucked to that site, and some of it has been burned. Windle said it's not economically feasible to merely shut down the site and send debris trucks to the other two sites.

Local resident Brent Barkdoll complained about machinery noise from the burn site disrupting neighbors as late as midnight, seven days a week.

Residents asked Windle to shut down the operation at 6 p.m. and entirely on weekends.

Windle said he couldn't do that and still meet contract requirements with the county. However, he agreed to start shutting down the site by 9 p.m.

Residents also complained about smoke from the debris piles infiltrating their homes. Springfield/Greene County Health Department officials recently obtained an air-quality monitor that provides immediate readings of particle levels.

But it's installed on the Missouri State University campus, not near burn sites.

Cathy Havens asked why the health department couldn't put a portable monitor near the Willard site.

Health Department director Kevin Gipson said monitoring air quality is a state function.

However, he agreed to ask the Missouri Department of Natural Resources if it had an extra monitor that could be placed at the Willard site.

If such a monitor showed repeated violations of air quality limits, Windle said that could force him to shut down the site sooner than planned.