Moving mountains: County exploring options for disposing of hurricane debris

Burke County continues to make progress in disposing of the massive amount of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene and hopes an innovative burning technique will speed up the process.

County Manager Brian Epley gave the Burke Board of Commissioners an update on the cleanup efforts during Monday’s pre-agenda meeting, including plans to implement air-curtain wood burning.

The technique makes use of a giant, portable fan that blows an enormous volume of air — spread out across a wide area like a sheet or curtain — into a 9- by 15-foot firepit, causing the wooden debris to burn much quicker than in an ordinary burn.

Epley said the county had to get approval from the state Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to employ air-curtain burning. A couple of counties to the west of Burke, where hurricane damage was more severe, have also been approved and have already started using the method.

The county can begin the process as soon as a contractor can get here with the machinery, likely sometime in the next few days.

“The state got exceptions approved through the EPA because there’s such a wide variety of counties that need to do this,” Epley said Wednesday. “Everybody recognizes that there is more material than we have anywhere to put.

“From an air-quality perspective, we typically don’t want to burn that much, but the situation dictates that’s the best way.”

Currently, the county is using two staging areas, the landfill and the fairgrounds. Chipping the wooden material has produced a mountain of mulch, and Epley said burning would give the county another option.

“Staging this amount of material is a significant challenge, and then trying to reduce the amount of chipping,” he said. “It’s very expensive and it’s time consuming, and you still have the chips to deal with.”

“Burning is certainly the quicker option, and with lower residual material when you’re done. We have a pile of chips at the landfill that is enormous already. It’s slow and it costs a lot.”

Expediting the process is important. Epley estimated the county has removed 75,000 to 80,000 cubic yards of debris so far out of an estimated 400,000 cubic yards of residential waste and another 200,000 to 250,000 of commercial detritus.

“We’re making progress, and I’m pleased with where we are, but we still have a long way to go,” Epley told the board.

Commissioner Randy Burns said residents have contacted him with concerns about air quality near the fairgrounds. He asked Epley if the air quality would be adversely affected if burning took place there.

“Any site that you get permitted to stage material requires core sampling before you do it, after you do it, and if you’re going to do air-curtain burning, air-quality sampling has to be done,” Epley replied.