Rhonda Griffin, Editor

Six area fire departments worked together to fight a fire in the Bladen County Solid Waste landfill on Sunday afternoon.

The intitial call was paged out around 3:15 p.m., Elizabethtown Asst. Chief Bradley Kinlaw said, after forest service workers reported smoke in the area. Firefighters from Elizabethtown Station 55, Bladenboro Station 51, Clarkton Station 52, Dublin Station 53, White Lake Station 58 and Lisbon Station 59 responded, along with Elizabethtown Rescue.

Firefighters remained on the scene until around 9 p.m., Kinlaw said. A bulldozer from solid waste moved dirt around in the area to help smother the fire as firefighters attacked the blaze from several angles. The pile of debris was burning four- to five-feet deep, Kinlaw said.

Station 55 and Station 52 were called back out on Monday morning when the blaze rekindled.

“Without the folks from solid waste and all of our mutual aid, we would’ve been there for days,” Kinlaw said Monday. “They were a big help and we couldn’t have done it without them.

“Everybody pulled together and did a great job of getting the fire contained quickly.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

As a reminder, the burning ban is still in effect, which prohibits any outside burning in the county. The ban, which is being strictly enforced by Bladen County Fire Marshal Mitchell Byrd, cancels any burning permits that have been issued.

For more information about the burning ban, contact the fire marshal’s office at 862-6760.