DAVIDSON—Spontaneous combustion is likely the cause of a fire in the burn pit at Davidson’s landfill Friday, Sept. 7.

Shortly after 3:30p.m. Davidson’s volunteer fire department responded to a fire call at the landfill southeast of Davidson.

The fire was spotted at about 2:30 p.m. by nearby landowners who saw smoke and flames coming from the burn pit at the dump.

Concerned that the fire would spread, they called the town office.

Members of Davidson’s public works department attended. One employee had a small fire extinguisher and was using it to put out flames. Public Works foreman Trent Thomson arrived with the town’s tractor and began pushing dirt to create a berm around the burn pit to prevent the fire from spreading.

At 3:36 p.m. Davidson Fire Department was called out to the landfill to put out the fire in the burn pit. They were there for three hours and didn’t return to the fire hall until 6:47 p.m.

Davidson Fire Chief Clayton Schilling said the exact cause of the fire is unknown.

“No one started it on purpose,” he said.

He said spontaneous combustion is likely the cause.

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