Massive Garbage Fire Extinguished At Facility In Middletown

MIDDLETOWN, CT — Firefighters battled a blaze at the Dainty Rubbish facility in Middletown for more than 12 hours from Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The Westfield Fire Department was dispatched to Dainty Rubbish on Industrial Park Road at 9:42 p.m. on Jan. 11 on the report of a structure fire. Arriving crews found “fire through the roof and fully involved in the bays filled with burning trash,” according to officials.

“Crews worked all night and through the morning along with heavy machine operators to remove the trash from the building to extinguish the fire,” officials wrote on the Westfield Fire Department’s Facebook page.

Westfield received assistance from Middletown’s two other fire departments, along with crews from several other towns (including Meriden, Middlefield, Cromwell, Berlin, Portland, Newington, Rocky Hill, Deep River, Clinton, Guilford, Haddam and Farmington).

“We would like to thank all the departments who came and helped with fire ground tactics and clean up of the scene!” officials wrote.

The fire, which was officially cleared at 10:30 a.m., consisted of 100 to 120 tons of garbage that filled the facility, according to the Hartford Courant. The majority of the garbage was construction debris, the Courant reports.

In addition to the high volume of burning trash, firefighters had to battle high winds that made things more challenging for crews, according to FOX 61.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Dainty Rubbish, located at 80 Industrial Park Rd., is a family owned and operated waste hauling and refuse management company that provides weekly pickup and recycling services to Middletown and Haddam, according to its Facebook page.