Officials provide update on mulch fire
The TBD landfill’s continuous smolder is nothing new.
A Shot Above photo
Anyone who’s been through the eastern part of Haywood County, even just driving toward Buncombe County on I-40 has likely seen — or smelled — the smoke.
The Two Banks Development mulch fire in Canton is nothing new. But as communities surrounding TBD’s landfill continue to be impacted, it seems that neither the problem nor the solution are as simple — or risk-free — as they might’ve first appeared.
TBD’s multiple mulch pits are loaded with debris sent to the landfill by FEMA and other contractors, according to North Canton Fire Department Chief Steve Kelley, who has been working nonstop with his crew to put out the fire since it first started smoking. The chief said that because mulch is highly combustible, certain standards must be met regarding its storage and administration so heat doesn’t build.
But some of these standards were waived after Hurricane Helene, though he wasn’t sure of the specifics.
North Carolina passed a law October 2024 to promote hurricane recovery and relief, relaxing certain restrictions, including open burning of storm-related debris, until March 2025. A June 2025 state law made various reforms to the initial recovery and relief measures. For example, HB 251 stipulated that “persons or entities undertaking activities to process tree stumps and other vegetative debris into mulch, compost or soil amendments” in counties under a major disaster declaration during Helene do not require solid waste composting permits for certain facilities, approval of erosion and sediment control plans, air quality permit requirements for vegetative debris processing equipment and State Fire Code limitations on mulch pile storage.
However, the law limits the total quantity of processed and unprocessed material for entities covered by HB 251 to 25,000 cubic yards. Kelley estimated the burning pile to be about 700,000 cubic yards, adding that it’s just one of five in the landfill.
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“In the whole property … I think they approximately figure that they’ve got 2.3 million cubic yards of mulch,” he said.
In an Aug. 22 statement, TBD claimed “… a controlled burn was conducted to help process storm-related vegetative debris. Since then, we are taking aggressive steps to control and significantly reduce associated smoke and impacts.” But according to Kelley, the external fire was the inevitable result of TBD turning off its “sprinkler system.”
The sprinkler system was enacted following TBD’s first external mulch fire in late July of this year. Kelley said that landfill employees would use water trucks to put out spot fires — up to 2 million gallons per day, drawn directly from the nearby Pigeon River to avoid disturbing the town’s water supply. But Kelley noted that “unfortunately, because of that, runoff overflowed their settling pond, and which in turn, ran into the river,” killing many fish living there.
While TBD has an National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for industrial process and commercial wastewater discharge, the permit allows it to discharge wastewater into waterbodies if the water is pretreated to avoid exceeding certain restrictions on contaminant levels, alongside submitting weekly monitoring reports.
A TBD representative said everything the company had done was strictly in line with its NPDES permit.
Kelley recounted that on Sunday, Aug. 17, “the EPA shut [the sprinkler system] down.”
Canton’s town board released an Aug. 21 letter about the mulch fire clarifying its lack of jurisdiction over the landfill while emphasizing the gravity of the situation.
“The odors and poor air quality being reported are unacceptable,” it read, “not just for those living near the landfill, but for residents across the entire Town.”
In a conversation with Smoky Mountain News, Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers reiterated what’s stated in the letter.
“I’ve said from the get-go, we have enjoyed our relationship with the company, and [TBD owner] Eric [Spirtas], he has been very forthcoming, and cooperative … But actions matter more than words. But I also think that Eric realizes that, and he and he will take actions to fix this, and he has to.”
“I cannot have my town engulfed in smoke,” Smathers added. “But we also cannot have our rivers running with discharge.”
What might Two Banks Development do next to mitigate this ongoing storm debris hazard? According to Kelley, “everybody’s trying to come up with the best possible scenario to make everybody happy.” He cited conversations with TBD representatives, EPA officials and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Air Quality Division. The chief suggested accelerating the fire, allowing for a cleaner burn. In any case, “there’s no option that’s going to be cheap for [TBD],” he noted.
