DEP investigating garbage fire at Keystone Sanitary Landfill October 22, 2024

The Times-Tribune

Christina DiGiulio, an environmental chemist with Philadelphia-based nonprofit Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, raised concerns Monday afternoon about what burned in the fire.

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“Knowing it is a conglomeration of waste, not knowing exactly what was on fire is quite concerning to me, especially if there’s some plastics in there. … You can get some very dangerous carcinogenic byproducts when you burn plastic on top of whatever else is in there,” DiGiulio said. “What did that plume actually have in it? We don’t know, and that’s really what’s kind of scary.”

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DiGiulio noted potential exposure to the smoke for both landfill workers and the community, questioning how the fire was put out and whether landfill workers had proper personal protective equipment as they extinguished it.