BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Illegal dumping continues to plague neighborhoods across Bakersfield, creating significant fire hazards and increasing costs for taxpayers, according to local fire officials.
On the city's east side, large piles of tree limbs, branches and other green waste have accumulated at illegal dumping sites, raising concerns as temperatures rise and fire season intensifies.
Bakersfield Fire Marshal Shane Gardner said illegal dumping has become a widespread problem throughout the city.
“We have sites all over the city,” Gardner said.
While code enforcement is responsible for issuing citations and addressing public nuisance properties, the Bakersfield Fire Department's Fire Prevention Division focuses on ensuring areas within high fire hazard severity zones do not pose a danger to nearby residents.
Battalion Chief A.J. Clark said the large piles of vegetation could become dangerous if ignited.
“These piles behind me, if they catch fire, their fuel load is so intense and so massive that they're going to burn for a long time,” Clark said. “And because of the location, we don't have the resources to get enough water up here.”
Officials said illegal dumping not only increases fire risk but also shifts disposal costs away from contractors and onto taxpayers.
“If they can find a spot like this where they can come out here and dump illegally, it doesn't cost them anything,” Gardner said.
Gardner noted that disposing of green waste legally comes with a cost.
“You go to the landfill or the green waste facility, you're looking at about $68 a load,” he said. “Over a period of time, if you're doing 200 or 300 loads like what we're seeing here, that adds up.”
When illegal dumping leads to fire department responses or city cleanup efforts, those costs are ultimately borne by the public, Gardner said.
“That cost eventually gets passed on because if we do have an incident out here, the contractor may have saved $68, but now we're putting our personnel out here,” Gardner said. “That's taxpayer money being spent to have crews out here for an extended period of time."
Clark said responding to fires at remote dump sites can strain department resources.
“We have 14 stations throughout the city, and if we have to come all the way out here on this side of town, we're pretty far away from everything,” Clark said. “That's going to draw a lot of resources away from the city.”
Gardner said the city's Wildland-Urban Interface Ordinance provides some authority to issue violations related to hazardous vegetation and dumping, but enforcement can be challenging.
“It does give us a little bit more legal authority to write violations up, but we still have to get property owners to comply,” Gardner said.
According to Gardner, fire officials can document violations and notify property owners before turning cases over to code enforcement for further action.
Clark said the issue extends beyond a single location.
“This is just one dump site of numerous sites around the city, and as we get closer and closer to people's houses, and illegal dump sites continue to pop up around them, it's creating a problem for everyone,” Clark said.
Bakersfield Fire officials said many illegal dumping sites are located near residential neighborhoods. With the Fourth of July approaching, they warned that a stray firework near one of the sites could spark a vegetation fire and create significant challenges for firefighters, nearby residents and the city.
Residents can report illegal dumping by calling 661-326-3114.
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