A sprawling underground fire at a Los Angeles landfill has grown into a serious threat after burning for years.
Regulators have reported that the blaze has tripled in size and warned that a warped mound of trash on the hillside could collapse in a potentially toxic landslide.
The crisis is also raising concerns beyond the specific landfill. Officials are now questioning whether similar conditions could be developing at other landfills across California, potentially creating a wider environmental and public health concern.
What’s happening?
According to the News Tribune, at Los Angeles County’s Chiquita Canyon Landfill, environmental regulators believe part of the site’s pollution-control system may have let oxygen reach waste deep underground. They say that exposure sped up decomposition and created extreme heat, a fire, toxic gases, and hazardous liquid waste…