LINN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) - For many, throwing something away in the trash doesn’t warrant a second thought, but several common items have been causing small fires at local solid waste facilities.

Last week, at the Cedar Rapids Linn County Solid Waste Agency, disaster was averted after crews swiftly doused a fire that started in a large pile of cardboard set to be recycled. In one of those cardboard boxes, somebody left oily rags, likely used to clean up oil or gasoline.

Because of that pile’s especially dry conditions, the fire started and could have posed a risk to the 44,000 square foot building and the people working there.

“It’s a huge issue,” Joe Horaney with the Linn County Agency said. “There’s always going to be paper inside the landfill, things that can ignite.”

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