UNIONVILLE, N.C. — Some Union County residents say they’re fed up with a foul smell that’s lingered for months after debris from Hurricane Helene at a local landfill spontaneously caught fire and continues to burn.
[ ALSO READ: Union County officials warn against outdoor burning ]
Residents in Unionville said the smell is unbearable. They can smell burning mulch almost daily and want to know when it will stop.
“It’s dirt that’s caught on fire,” said resident Erin Price. “Literally, it’s like the old, nasty dirt that just has been dirty and ashy and sitting around forever. It’s just terrible.”
Price lives a half mile from Griffin Farm & Landfill.
Union County officials said the burning debris is from a creek clean-up effort following Helene.
The fire has, at times, kept Price’s kids from playing outside.
“Kids’ lungs are still developing, even at 5 years old 2 years old, so I wanted to keep them as safe as possible,” she said.
The fire was worst in September 2025, which was when a resident filed a complaint the North Carolina Division of Air Quality calling on them to investigate.
In an email, a spokesperson with the DEQ said the fire at the landfill started spontaneously.
They added rules prohibit anyone from burning mulch at that site but to date, there are no documented violations.
“If we had this properly taken care of, we wouldn’t have had these issues with begin with,” Price said.
“In all these years, and we’ve had never had any problems whatsoever,” said resident Shenna Honeycutt.
Union County officials told Channel 9 they could not provide a timeline for when the burning will end.
“Multiple public safety agencies are working together to ensure the fire remains controlled and does not pose a risk to the public or surrounding properties,” the county said.
Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the landfill on Saturday where there wasn’t any smoke.
Full DEQ statement:
"DEQ’s Division of Waste Management and Division of Air Quality have been aware of and monitoring the ongoing mulch fire at Griffin Farm since early September. The fire started spontaneously. Division staff continue to discuss best practices with the site owners, contractors and local fire officials on managing waste, ash and smoke.
“Mulch landfills are required by Division of Waste Management rules to follow best management practices, including requirements for ‘fire protection and control.’ The burning of vegetative debris is governed by DEQ’s Open Burning rules. These rules prohibit an owner or operator from causing, allowing or permitting the burning of mulch at these sites. To date, the Department has not documented any violation of our rules. DEQ continues to assess the situation.
The public can check current and forecasted air quality conditions online using our Air Quality Portal. Should DEQ anticipate that smoke levels would produce levels of fine particulate matter above certain thresholds on the Air Quality Index, our meteorologists would issue an Air Quality Action Day in the forecast for the county impacted.
VIDEO: 2 people killed in Christmas morning fire after burning candles were left unattended
This browser does not support the video element.