Dallas

Fire at Dallas Sanitation Facility Reduces Fleet

Fire early Saturday at Northwest Dallas storage yard

NBC Universal, Inc.

A weekend fire reduced the number of Dallas garbage trucks available for service as residents and Dallas City Council members complain about the missed collection.

The fire early Saturday at the Northwest Dallas equipment storage and maintenance site ruined 3 trucks and did severe cosmetic damage to fourth truck.

Sanitation director Jay Council said the cause of the fire is unknown. It had been over 8 hours since those trucks had been in service.

“It was a cold January morning so it's kind of a head-scratcher at this point but we're still awaiting the results of the investigation,” Council said.

The challenge of keeping sanitation equipment in service already had the attention of Dallas City Council members.

“This is tough for our city and we're already down trucks that we need,” Council Member Cara Mendelsohn said.

Councilmembers have been fielding complaints from constituents about the missed collection and many people have complained to NBC 5.

Jan. 2, South Dallas resident Tamia Hall said her street received no trash collection for the entire month of December.  Trash on her street was collected at 7 that night after an NBC 5 report. Other residents in all parts of Dallas have reported missed trash.

“I want to understand is how we got here and what steps are being taken to remedy it and what areas of town have been hit hardest,” City Council Member Paula Blackmon said.

On Dec. 5, the city launched new 5 day a week collection routes that changed pick up days for many residents. The goal was better service by reducing daily workload for employees and equipment.

“It is more efficiency. It is to improve the overall service delivered. We’re still working through it. We’re not there yet, but I am hopeful it will be an overall improvement for the city,” Council said.

Council Member Mendelsohn said it has not improved service yet.

“We haven't seen the reduction in calls for help,” she said.

A special Dallas City Council Environment and Sustainability Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday with trash collection as a top issue. Paula Blackmon is the chair of that committee.

“And it's a chance for everybody to ask questions about what happened, how did this happen and how are we going to get out of it,” Blackmon said.

Director Jay Council said cold December weather was also a major setback for sanitation staff and equipment. But he said routes are already overwhelmingly on schedule with very missed customers.

“Historically and currently that margin of error is less than 1% of our total collection points,” he said.

Council confirmed that keeping equipment on the road is a challenge and the loss of 4 is not good. He said 15 others are due to be replaced and more have been ordered.  It takes about 2 years to get delivery of new garbage trucks.

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