(BIVN) – A fire occurred last night at the West Hawaiʻi Sanitary Landfill involving the Organics Facility and green waste material, and suppression and salvage operations continue today.

Hawaii Fire Department responded to the fire last night and Department of Environmental Management, along with contractor Hawaiian Earth Recycling, are involved in the response.

Due to the Fire, the following are issued:

• Residents and persons in the area will see and smell smoke from the burning green waste.
• This includes the resort areas at Waikoloa.
• There is no threat of fire to the adjacent communities.
• The Department of Health has been notified.

Due to the fire, the Puʻuanahulu, Waimea and Kealakehe green waste sites are closed.

The West Hawaiʻi Sanitary Landfill greenwaste service will reopen as regularly scheduled, “as soon as it is safe to do so,” the County said on Monday. “Residents and commercial greenwaste customers are asked to hold on to their green waste if they can, or they may take their greenwaste to the East Hawaiʻi Organics Facility in Hilo.”

Meawhile, on Monday the County announced new residential green waste disposal guidelines for county transfer stations, effective immediately.

“The County’s greenwaste recycling facilities are only for the use of residential customers with self-hauled greenwaste from their private residential properties,” the County wrote in a media release.

The following NEW green waste guidelines apply to residential customers, effective immediately:

• One load per day
• Maximum 5 cubic yards per day
• Maximum 5 feet in length and 6 inches in diameter (logs, branches, and other green waste, with the exception of palm fronds)
• Hours of operation for green waste disposal are 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Please note the green waste hours differ from transfer station hours.)

Businesses, farms, government and non-profit agencies are prohibited from disposing green waste at County Recycling and Transfer Stations, officials say, “and may dispose of greenwaste at the East Hawaiʻi Organics Facility (Hilo) and the West Hawaiʻi Organics Facility (Puʻuanahulu).”

The County also asked, “please do not transport any ‘ōhi‘a vegetative material to our facilities, even if it appears uninfected. Please compost ōhi‘a material at the site where it originated, to prevent the spread of Rapid Ōhi‘a Death.”