Over the past 12 months, the waste and recycling industry has experienced 369 reported fires in both the U.S. and Canada. Based on reasonable assumptions, we can extrapolate that 1,800-plus facility fires have occurred in the past 12 months, which, based on the number of facilities reported by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation, is more than 40 percent of the industry.
There were also five deaths and 13 injuries reported during that time. Most of these injuries and deaths were suffered by the brave fire professionals called in to fight and contain these incidents.
