Project Summary

Services
Geotechnical Engineering

Market
Property, Buildings and Facilities

Project Description

In November 1999, a 250,000 m3 cell of the 3,000,000 m3 Delta Shake and Shingle Landfill–located at the northern edge of Burns Bog in Delta, B.C.–erupted into flames.  The initial extinguishment efforts by the landfill owner accelerated combustion of the construction demolition waste, and a state of local emergency was declared by the Mayor of Delta.

The effects of the blaze were considerable: smoke from the fire cast a thick haze over the Metro Vancouver skyline; streams in the area were threatened by leachate from the firefight; and the health and performance of workers on adjacent properties were being affected by the inhalation of smoke and pungent odours.

Our Role

The Delta landfill was underlain by soft peat and silt, and RAM was assigned responsibility for geotechnical assessment, instrumentation, and design to ensure that the proposed excavation and lay-down earthworks required for firefighting would not result in adversely affecting nearby existing utilities. A catastrophic failure of the adjacent gas trunk lines was of particular concern. Our role in this project included:

  • Design of remedial earthworks;
  • Thorough and ongoing site investigations;
  • Instrumentation installation;
  • Short-term stability analysis;
  • Monitoring of geotechnical instrumentation;
  • Assessment of monitoring and survey data.

Project Highlights

This project’s workforce was mobilized overnight, and the geotechnical investigation, instrumentation, and analysis programs were carried out simultaneously with the earthworks for which they were designed. Measured movements did not reach the trigger levels established by Horizon Engineering, remaining within predicted ranges.

Additionally, Horizon Engineering Inc. was recognized with an award in 2001 by the Consulting Engineers of British Columbia for our work on this challenging project.