Garbage fire doused by GHDPS

 Joseph Kitchen, a driver with Republic Service, said he had just picked up the container from the back of the business when he noticed it was smoking. He backed his trailer to a different drive in front of the building and slid the container onto the ground, then pulled his truck out of danger.

 “It was a hot load,” Kitchen said. “Once I got it on my trailer it started smoldering and burning.

 Flames were showing when firefighters from the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety and Grand Haven Township Fire/Rescue arrived on the scene.

 The fire was quickly doused and there was no danger to the building.

 “If I got here 10 minutes later, it probably would have caught on fire right next to the building,” Kitchen said.

 Fire officials had Kitchen put the container back on his trailer so he could dump all of the contents on the ground to make sure the fire was completely out.