CAIRO — Firefighters with the Cairo Fire Department had to call on help from agencies from Grady County and the City of Bainbridge to put out a massive blaze Tuesday at the city landfill.

The fire department was notified Tuesday at around 7 a.m. of a large blaze that encompassed about two acres at the 6th Avenue city landfill. Upon arrival, the firefighters noticed heavy flames coming from the landfill.

“We can see brush fires of that size or smaller because we’re in the city limits, but it’s the fact of what it was and how compact it was that made it so difficult,” said Fire Chief Bill Schafer. “You had a mixture of a plethora of things that were burning.”

Attempts to extinguish the blaze with a fire engine were unsuccessful, and though a second effort to disburse water using a ladder did manage to help somewhat, firefighters quickly determined that the flames could not be put out alone.

“When you get plastics and stuff like that mixed in with timbers and trees, water alone isn’t going to put it all out,” Schafer said.

Using a special foam trailer from the Bainbridge Public Safety Department and six tankers from the Grady County Volunteer Fire Department, the combined crew of about 20 firefighters put out the inferno at around 5 p.m.

Tankers hauled water to the scene of the blaze and deposited it in two 3,000 gallon dump tanks used in lieu of fire hydrants, which are not available at the landfill. An estimated 180,000 gallons of water and 500 gallons of foam were used in the battle.

Schafer said he suspects the blaze was the result of a spontaneous combustion.

“Maybe some chemicals or something mixed in the breakdown,” he said.

No foul play is suspected in the incident.

Schafer extended thanks to the other agencies for their assistance in putting out the blaze.

“We thank Bainbridge Public Safety and the Grady County volunteers for helping,” he said. “Without those guys being there to help it would have basically been impossible for us to contain it that fast.”