‘The smell was putrid.’ Burning heap of trash dumped in Ypsilanti lot

YPSILANTI, MI -- An Ypsilanti resident got a smelly surprise when a garbage truck dumped a burning pile just feet from her home on Thursday.

“It smelled pretty bad,” said Hunter Wolford in a message to MLive/The Ann Arbor News. “It made my stomach turn.”

A Republic Services garbage truck had its load catch on fire around 3 p.m., Aug. 21 near Florence and Ballard Streets in Ypsilanti, said Ken Hobbs, the chief of the Ypsilanti Fire Department.

The driver, who had recently picked up the load from Cross Street, saw the truck smoking and was able to dump its contents in a vacant lot, Hobbs said. The truck dropped around 30 yards of trash.

“Absolutely, he did the right thing,” Hobbs said.

Wolford said she was able to see flames coming out of the top of the truck as the driver backed up the