Notes on Storm: Hurricane Flood Debris Cleanup

Disastrous storms inevitably will occur again, and once the month of August has passed, the question whether or not there will be a hurricane hitting the US East or Gulf Coast later this year is on many people’s minds, especially of those in Emergency Management responsible for disaster preparedness. rescue and recovery.

For the sake of the public’s health and well-being, any storm or flood event will require the expeditions, safe and complete cleanup of woody debris from wind damage and floods and often also of drowned animals. Time is very much of the essence to avoid the hazards from decomposing debris, rodent infestations and to clear the way for rebuilding to give the public a sense of comfort and hope for the future.

The quickest way to accomplish these goals is the strategic positioning of Air Burners air curtain burner systems. They must be in the arsenal of tools required for prepositioned disaster recovery contracts for quick deployment to trouble spots. The USEPA has recognized the importance of such rapid air curtain burner positioning by providing in it regulations that air burners machines can be used immediately upon official declaration of a disaster without any initial “red-tape” permitting requirement.

Why air curtain burners?

Only air curtain burners, especially our FireBoxes, totally eliminate the debris on-site:

  • No Drying Out
  • No Grinding
  • No Metal Parts Concerns
  • No Trucking
  • Leaves Only Small Amount of Inert Ash
  • Kills All Pathogens
  • Can Also Safely Destroy Drowned / Diseased Animals
  • The Waste is the Fuel
  • No Landfill Tipping Fees

High temperature FireBox combustion assures complete destruction of any pathogens and microorganisms that may have infested the storm debris from destroyed houses, boardwalks, warehouses, landfills, upset garbage dumpsters, broken sewer lines, etc.

Such pathogens and microorganisms may cause serious long-lasting public health issues, if not eradicated quickly or if the wood waste is chipped or ground into mulch for “recycling” requiring further handling, transportation and ultimate disposal.

Is it a good idea to grind the storm and flood debris and “recycle”?

No, it is not.

Woody disaster recovery debris usually contains all sorts of nasty foreign objects (other than pathogens), such as metal parts, nails, rocks or glass that make the grindings or mulch unfit or undesirable for recycling as ground cover for roadways and parks or for home use in yards and gardens, at playgrounds or for electric power generation at biomass cogeneration plants. Disaster debris mulch more often than not will finally end up in our (precious and limited) landfills anyway, because once ground into mulch, the storm debris can no longer be eliminated in an air curtain burner. Also, grinding and trucking causes unnecessary pollution, wastes fuel and, if merely piled up, mulch is subject to spontaneous combustion resulting in a new dilemma, as such mulch piles often smolder and pollute the air and possibly the ground water for many months.

Air Burners for Disaster Recovery – Highlights

  • Our portable FireBox systems are affordable, easy and inexpensive to operate and they have a long useful life.
  • Mass reduction is 95%-98%, the residue is a sterile wood ash.
  • All our machines meet or exceed applicable US EPA Regulations.
  • Our FireBoxes can be put to work immediately without any cumbersome paperwork in declared disaster areas per US EPA.
  • For best performance, our above ground FireBoxes, our Roll-off FireBoxes and our trailer-mounted towable FireBox, the “BurnBoss” should be used.
  • Our very efficient and well-proven Trench Burners should only be deployed to areas where a properly dimensioned earthen pit can safely be built.