A survey was distributed to landfill operators collecting information regarding spontaneous firs
incidents in their landfills. Survey results raised new questions necessitating further study of
subsurface fires incidents. Subsurface spontaneous fires were not restricted to any landfill
geometry or type of waste (municipal, industrial, commercial, and construction and demolition).Results showed that landfill fires occur in landfills that do and do not recirculate leachate.
Although new methods have been developed to detect subsurface fires, landfill operators depend
primarily on visual observation of smoke or steam to detect the subsurface fires. Also, survey
results indicated that excavating and covering with soil are the most widespread methods for
extinguishing subsurface fires.