After 10 years of filming garbage trucks, I've never been in a crazier situation. It was my birthday, and I went up to the Brea Thursday route at 5 PM knowing garbage trucks would still be on route. I found Mentado on his 1st street after a break, but not long after, smoke started coming out of the hopper, seen in the 2nd clip after the introduction. He turned off the truck, motioned me over, and asked me to call the fire department while he monitored the truck and called his supervisors. The response was so fast, police showed up while I was still on the phone! Eventually, a fire crew showed up, and since police blocked the street off, I filmed a few clips from a distance while they first tried spraying water into the hopper, and then eventually dumping the load in the street since the smoke was getting worse. Soon after, Luis (2402) showed up revving hard to finish Mentado's route. I then left, and I came back after eating dinner past 8 PM to find a bunch of Republic Services workers sweeping the fire load into the carry can of 2083, a bulk truck. I only got 1 clip because it was getting late, and I couldn't get too close like earlier with police blocking the street. A huge thank you to Mentado, who quickly noticed the smoke and alerted me to call the fire department; all the officers and firefighters for their rapid response in controlling the situation; and all the maintenance workers and management who stayed out late to collect the fire load. This is a reminder for everyone to please be aware of what you put in your garbage cans. Flammable material, especially, shouldn't be placed in a recycle cart. It's unfortunate that an almost full recycle load was ruined because of this.
Date: July 22nd, 2021
Location: Brea, California
Camera: iPhone XR
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