Omaha waste collector ‘glad to be okay’ after battery sparks large trash fire

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Justin Stungis is still in shock after the events that led to him standing outside a Gretna gas station watching a pile of trash go up in flames.

"I'm just glad to be okay," Stungis said.

Stungis works at Gretna Sanitation. He's in charge of picking up trash from neighborhoods. However, Thursday morning that job turned dangerous.

"I just left the neighborhood picking up trash and I was headed down to the landfill and noticed smoke coming from the top of the truck," Stungis said.

Stungis immediately pulled over at the Kum & Go near 168th and Cornhusker Road. He said he opened the back of the truck and saw flames shooting up so he dumped the burning trash onto the road beside it just like he's been trained to do.

"It was actually flaming pretty good," Stungis said. "It's happened to me before and it's scary it catches you off guard."

Brent Crampton with Gretna Sanitation and Hillside Solutions told 6 News lithium batteries are the culprit for the fire.

"It's been the third time in the past year that we've had a fire break out in this manner because of something going into the trash that shouldn't have," Crampton said. "What I do know about batteries is once they get punctured that the contents inside can leak and that has the potential to cause fire."

It took more than an hour to put out the trash fire. First responders and fire crews showed up to clean up the mess. Both Stungis and Crampton said things like this shouldn't happen and that it's important to ask yourself what you're throwing out and the impact it could have.

"You should try to think, 'Does this have batteries in it?,'" Crampton said. "Does this have a rechargeable battery in it?' If it does don't put it in your normal trash."

"If you're ever in question, just look it up," Stungis said.

For more tips and information on what can and cannot be recycled, as well as locations to dispose of batteries,.