A garbage can fire in the city in 2017. (Submitted photo)

By Alison Sandstrom

Safety tips

Five garbage bin fires reported over long weekend in P.A.

May 26, 2021 | 12:00 PM

After a string of garbage can fires over the long weekend, the City of P.A. and the P.A. Fire Department are offering tips on how residents can keep their waste receptacles secure.

The city told paNOW about five garbage can fires that were reported over the long weekend. One of those led to “extensive damage” to a nearby home.

“If you store your garbage can up against your home, bad idea,” fire chief Kris Olsen said. “I would consider three meters [away], and that’s not just from your home, from any combustible will go a long ways. It can prevent a structure fire.”

Asked if the recent number garbage can fires is normal for this time of year, Olsen said the blazes are “never normal” but the department does see spikes in fire calls from time to time and “this last weekend definitely a spike.”

It’s unclear if the five fires were related, but Olsen said they are under investigation.

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Meanwhile, Jeff Da Silva, acting sanitation manager for the City of P.A., said the city has a work order out to replace the damaged bins.

He advised residents to bring their bins in from the curb by noon the day after their scheduled pick-up and not to put them out until 5 p.m. the evening before.

“If they’re left out on the road, obviously that means that they’re more accessible and often times that means they can either go missing or be damaged,” Da Silva said.

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alison.sandstrom@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @alisandstrom