FAIRHOPE, Ala. -A fire that erupted June 17 at the Fairhope landfill has prompted the installation of a sprinkler system but not revived debate surrounding a January vote to increase capacity.

Mayor Tim Kant said the area which caught fire was limited to what is referred to as the “limb pile” and at no point threatened the standard landfill refuse.

The limb pile, he said, is ground periodically for recycled use and now the public works department is re-evaluating the size of the pile allowed to accumulate before that step is taken.

“We’re also looking at separating (the contents) of the piles themselves, so we don’t have one big pile,” Kant said.

Fairhope Fire Chief Chris Ellis said the occurrence is rare but not unheard of.

“It doesn’t happen often down here for us, but it does happen,” Ellis said.

The sprinkler system and a fire hydrant have been installed, he said, to help keep the area irrigated and lower the risk of recurrence during such dry conditions.

Kant said the fire has actually prompted the latest in what has been a 30-year evolution for the landfill site.

“Thirty years ago, they used to burn the garbage down there, if you can believe, and then they started hauling it to Magnolia Springs. Now we separate the limbs, and we’re looking at the size of that limb pile,” he said.

Kant did note that the city has burned hurricane debris over the years but only under controlled conditions and only to address an immediate, emergency accumulation.

Kant did say this is the first fire known to have ignited in the limb pile, and precautions were taken to ensure the safety of neighboring residents affected by the dense smoke.

“The smoke wasn’t toxic, but if you were right next to it, it was pretty awful. We went door to door warning people about what was going on and trying to determine if anybody had any (medical) conditions that would warrant relocation,” he said, noting at least one family was relocated to a hotel “for a few nights” due to an underlying respiratory condition.

The fire, ruled to have begun from “natural combustion,” burned into the night with fire fighters from Daphne, Barnwell, Fish River and Marlow assisting Fairhope with the blaze.

A week after the fire started, residents began to complain about dirty water flowing through their household pipes, which the water department blamed on the fire fighting effort. According to Superintendent Dan McCrory, the use of such a large amount of water stirred up sediments in the system which were being flushed out Monday.

The City Council voted unanimously in January to raise the South Section Street landfill’s debris height by 30 feet to create more buffer for neighboring residents. Kant reiterated, however, that the limb pile is not included in that area.