Fire truck leaving former Badger Army Ammunition Plant after a prescribed prairie burn ignited an underground fire that burned for more than 24 hours. (CSWAB photo)
by Joe Block, Star News
A prescribed burn in the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area ignited an “unknown substance,” according to the Wisconsin DNR, on Wednesday, August 26. Residents on Keller Road, along the southern border of the recreation area, were informed of a voluntary evacuation order soon after. Keller Road and the southern section lie on the ground of the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant. According to the DNR, “observed subsurface fires/reactions were within the area of Settling Pond 2.” The Army has been conducting a clean-up program at Badger since 1977 at the former plant to remove toxic contaminants. The land where the fire occurred is owned by the DNR.
According to the DNR, hazmat teams recommended allowing the unknown subsurface material to burn out. On Thursday, August 27, given the weather conditions, it was recommended that water be added to the fire to reduce smoke and cool the area. Rain arrived Friday, and the voluntary evacuation order was lifted. An infrared drone was used to monitor the fire. Over last weekend the site was monitored, revealing no smoke or heat.
The DNR Remediation and Redevelopment program is going to continue to monitor the site and coordinate next steps. The southern portion of Sauk Prairie Recreation Area remains closed for public safety.
The Army has been holding meetings with stakeholders for several decades as part of a remediation project for the former Badger Plant. There are pollutants from the central area of Badger that gave leaked into the groundwater, as well as polluted soil. These polluted “plumes” of groundwater are moving slowly to the southeast towards the Wisconsin River.
Orange emissions from the underground fire at Badger Army Ammunition Plant on Aug 26-27.
The Army has remediated the former settling ponds. According to documentation provided by Laura Olah, Executive Director for Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger: “In a July 29, 2010 internal communication DNR staff wrote: ‘I’m sure that some shallow contaminated soil will remain in the Settling Ponds, Final Creek, and the Spoils Disposal Areas…Although the number of days of use assumed for recreational use in contaminant exposure calculations is around 75 and the Army is proposing to use 77 days, there will still be land uses that would be good to avoid. It is hard to imagine the Settling Ponds and Final Creek being used extensively for any designated activity as part of the Sauk Prairie Recreational Area, although I’m guessing that a hiking trail might be acceptable, for example, but more intensive uses such as a campground or an ATV trail where the vegetation would be removed should be avoided.’”
According to Cathy Kropp, Environmental PA Specialist, US Army Environmental Command: “The Army has a very good relationship with the WDNR. The fire started Wednesday evening, [the Army] learned about it Thursday morning and we sent our local contractor out to the site immediately to talk to the incident commander and share what we knew could have been in the settling ponds.”
She continued, “The Army did provide information to assist the decisions made, but we are not the decision maker on land we do not own. The follow-on actions are still being discussed with WDNR. As you can imagine, any work that needs to be accomplished related to the fire, would not have been planned, and we would need to modify contracts for any additional actions the Army is responsible for.”
“We are at the end of the fiscal year for the government, so this would most likely need to wait until after October 1. Right now it is too early in the process to know exactly what will be needed or done or when. The Army will work closely with WDNR to determine follow-on sampling and assessment, and mitigation efforts. And we will keep the community informed through RAB meetings and Dear Neighbor emails, once we know more.”
The Star News reached out to the DNR to find out when a determination will be made of what the unknown substance is. As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, there has been no response from the DNR.
NOTE: The next virtual meeting of the Badger Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) is scheduled for September 24 at 6 pm. The public is welcome to join all virtual and in-person meetings of the RAB.
Burn Unit Map WDNR 26 August 2020
Unknown Substance Burned Settling Ponds Badger Sauk Star News 3 Sept 2020
WDNR Final Summary Settling Ponds Underground Fire 26-27 Aug 2020