Division of Environmental Quality

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources Provides Services Valuable To Your Life, Health and Community

Department Responds to Tire Fire in Ray County (March 2005)

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources immediately dispatched personnel to the site of a tire fire in Ray County reported on March 14, 2005. The department is working with local officials to contain the fire and address issues affecting air, land, solid waste and water pollution caused by the fire.

Burning tires can release pollution to the air, land and water. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 tires were consumed in this fire.

The Department of Natural Resources' emergency response staff applied absorbent pads to collect oil that leaked from the tires into Bogart Creek.

Water sitting in waste tires breeds mosquitoes and diseases such as the West Nile virus. Each tire can produce 10,000 to one million mosquitoes during a breeding season.