Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 1, 1993 TAG: 9312020256
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From a plateau, the Blue Ridge Mountains dissolve into the horizon without any visible trace of civilization.
Walk a few steps, however, and the discarded tires come into view.
Thousands and thousands of tires - an impossible expanse of tires - fill a ravine on off Starlight Lane in south Roanoke County.
There are so many that Roanoke County officials refuse to venture a guess about the exact number.
"It's scary," County Attorney Paul Mahoney said.
The state Division of Waste Management puts the figure at 3 million, making it the second-largest illegal tire dump in Virginia.
Now, a new waste-tire program run by the state may provide a way to clean up Keeling's tire dump - a solution that has eluded Roanoke County and the courts for more than a decade.
The program, financed by a 50-cent tax on all new tires, will provide a shredder for Southwest Virginia that initially will take tires for free.
Roanoke County officials say they need to know more about the program to know if it will solve the fire hazard posed by the mass of tires.
The catch is money. It won't be cheap to pull the tires out of the ravine and dispose of them in a permitted landfill.
Keeling has told the courts that he lacks the financial means to clean up the mountainside.
Keeling, who ran a tire-recapping business on the site, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors has been reluctant to press for a court-ordered cleanup, fearing that the costs could fall on the backs of taxpayers.
"It's gotten to the point that we're almost frantic looking for an alternative so something awful doesn't happen," Mahoney said.
The risk is that the tire dump could ignite, setting off a blaze rivaling the great tire fire of 1983-84, which burned out of control for months in Frederick County.
Keeling's property was the site of five small tire fires in the mid-1970s.
The first blaze, which broke out on Thanksgiving Day in 1974, produced plumes of black smoke visible from across the Roanoke Valley.
Sight-seers drawn by the smoke created a traffic jam on Starlight Lane as fire crews worked to contain the blaze. Keeling was quoted at the time as saying that his property contained 300,000 tires.
Four more small fires broke out in 1975, according to county records.
Roanoke County redoubled its enforcement efforts after the Frederick County tire fire broke out in late 1983. Keeling later was convicted of illegally operating a landfill, unlawfully disposing of rubbish and maintaining a public nuisance.
Keeling appealed the conviction to Roanoke County Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens, who has overseen the case since 1986.
Keeling has proposed finding investors for a tire shredding and recycling facility. But nothing has come of the plan.
Mahoney said the county has continued to work with Keeling in hopes that he could come up with a way to clean up the mountainside.
"The man doesn't have the resources to clean it up. He's liable. Big deal. You can't get blood from a turnip.
"From an enforcement standpoint, there is not anything we can do execept come in with public taxpayer funds to clean it up."
\ ROANOKE COUNTY TIRE DUMP\ HISTORY\ \ 1964: W.J. Keeling gets approval for tire-recapping business\ \ 1974: First tire fire reported, Nov. 28\ \ 1975: Second tire fire reported, March 18\ 1975: Third tire fire reported, June 10\ \ 1975: Fourth tire fire reported, Sept. 24\ \ 1975: Fifth tire fire reported, Dec. 8\ \ 1981: Roanoke County orders Keeling to obtain landfill permit\ \ 1983: Roanoke County - acting after giant tire fire in Frederick County - cites Keeling for dumping violation\ \ 1985: Keeling's request for landfill permit denied\ \ 1986: Keeling convicted of operating illegal landfill, unlawfully disposing of rubbish and maintaining a nuisance\ \ 1987: Under a court order, Keeling claims to have removed 4,000 tires and produces invoices verifying expenditure of several hundred dollars.\ \ 1988: Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens gives Keeling six months to set up tire shredding operation to dispose of remaining tires.\ \ 1989-Present: Roanoke County does not press issue after it becomes apparent that Keeling lacks finances or partners to finance shredding operation.
Memo: slightly different version ran in the State edition.