The City of Janesville is no stranger to landfill fires but a blaze in the back of a trash collection truck is a new one.

Janesville Operations Director Maggie Darr says on December 5th a garbage truck operator noticed that his load was smoldering.

Darr says the driver was able to quickly dump his load in a public parking lot before it could seriously damage the expensive vehicle.

Though the cause of the December 5th fire remains undetermined, one of the primary causes of landfill and collection truck fires is from disposal of lithium-ion batteries.

In a 2021 report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that 245 fires at waste disposal facilities and in collection vehicles between 2013 and 2020 were caused by lithium-ion batteries.