‘Grass fires’ at sewage plant may just be methane flaring

NEWS — Those “grass fires” you see in the Mission Flats area may not be grass fires at all.

City Hall has been responding to multiple calls about grass fires or “trees on fire” in the area that are actually flares from the sewage plant.

The plant has undergone extensive upgrades over the past several months and the project is nearing completion. The upgrades include covering one of the pre-treatment anaerobic ponds to cut down on odor complaints and capture naturally produced methane gas.

Methane is smelly and is classified as greenhouse gas; when released to the atmosphere it’s 20 times more harmful to the depletion of the ozone layer than carbon dioxide. Flaring helps lower the emissions.

A flare system was commissioned July 11 that burns the captured methane gas 24/7 and can be seen during low light conditions. The flares are what is being mistaken as fires, says the City.

Anyone seeing what they believe to be an uncontrolled fire should call 911.