At 8:45 AM the Bismarck Fire Department responded to a report of a trash fire in the parking lot of Sams Club at 2821 Rock Island Place.

A driver from Waste Management had noticed smoke coming from the top of his garbage truck and realized there was a fire inside the trash compartment of the truck. The driver pulled into the parking lot of Sams Club and emptied the trucks contents onto the east side of the parking lot and moved the truck away from the fire. Once the compacted garbage was exposed to the open air the fire intensified. There were no exposures to the fire and there was no damage to the garbage truck. There were no injuries at this incident.
The fire department used approximately 500 gallons of water and foam to extinguish the fire. Waste Management made arrangements to have the parking lot cleaned.

Note: When a garbage truck picks up embers that cause a fire inside the trash compartment there is usually no way to extinguish the fire except to unload the truck and apply water. It is a common practice for the operator to dump the contents of the truck into a parking lot when there is a fire, otherwise the truck may sustain heavy damage and the hydraulic system may be damaged and add to the fire hazard.