A fire broke out at Burley’s municipal wastewater plant Wednesday causing damage to the dryer building.
Burley Fire Chief Shannon Tolman said the fire department was called to the plant at 9:45 a.m. where burning oil was coming out of the chimney.
“When we got there, heavy fire and smoke was coming out of the dryer chimney,” Tolman said.
Fire crews made their way into the attic of the building, which had “quite a bit of damage to the trusses,” he said.
City Administrator Mark Mitton said the municipal plant uses a sludge dryer that converts the solid waste to Class A sludge, which the city gives away to people for land application. The dryer removes any living organisms and converts the sludge to an inert substance that can be used as a low-grade fertilizer.
The dryer is oil heated.