Second Garbage Truck Fire Just 2 Blocks from Explosion Scene on Derbyshire Ave in December; No Word from Arlington Heights

Garbage truck contents fire on June 6, 2025 at Miner Street and Derbyshire Avenue Arlington Heights just two blocks south of Groot garbage truck fire and explosion that occurred on December 6, 2024 (CARDINAL NEWS). YouTube Tips ⓘ

Police, firefighters, and paramedics from Arlington Heights responded about 10:49 a.m. Friday, June 6, 2025 to a report of a Groot garbage truck fire at the intersection of Miner Street and Derbyshire Avenue in Arlington Heights. The fire involved contents in the truck, and the Groot garbage truck operator was able to dump the smoldering load into the street. Neighbors near the scene were concerned about another possible explosion because the intersection of Miner Street and Derbyshire Avenue is two blocks south of the scene where a Groot garbage truck fire and explosion occurred on Derbyshire Avenue near Euclid Avenue last December 2024, damaging several houses and a detached garage. The June 6 fire was caught early.

Arlington Heights police officers were first on the scene Friday morning, and reported no active fire. One police officer also reported that the load from the garbage truck was dumped onto the street.

Squad 1 firefighters on arrival reported that the garbage truck was not currently involved because the garbage load had been dumped onto the street. There was slight smoke coming from the pile dumped on the street, but no flames were visible. Firefighters soaked the garbage pile with water from a hose line.

Friday, December 6, 2024 to Friday, June 6, 2025
Neighbors near Miner Street and Derbyshire Avenue expressed concern, since the fire scene was only two blocks south of the garbage truck fire and explosion scene in the block of 500 North Derbyshire Avenue six months ago on December 6, 2025. The previous garbage truck fire involved significant fire inside the truck, and flames and heat caused Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) tanks to explode, which damaged several homes. At least three of the homes are still boarded up six months after the explosion. One neighbor commented about the firefighters Friday morning, “They’re pros now.”

Arlington Heights garbage truck explosion on Derbyshire Avenue captured by police body cam, and police dash cam on Friday, December 6, 2024 (SOURCE: Arlington Heights Police Department). YouTube Tips ⓘ

After the fire and explosion involving a Groot garbage truck on December 6, 2024, Arlington Heights Fire Department Fire Chief Lance Harris at a Village Board meeting February 18, 2025, blamed a Lithium battery as the likely cause of a hot, fast-spreading fire inside the garbage truck. Chief Harris also downplayed that water used during fire suppression, may have played a part in the failure of Pressure Relief Devices, which are designed to vent gas out of Compressed Natural Gas Cylinders to avoid explosions. Industry recommendations indicate that fire suppression water should be kept away from the Pressure Relief Devices because if they are cooled, their safety feature can fail to release pressure in the cylinders when they are heated. A village-provided police bodycam video showed a firefighter lobbing water from a firehose into the top of the garbage truck and upwind of the CNG cylinders located at the top of the truck. Chief Lance Harris indicated he didn’t know why the multiple and redundant Pressure Relief Devices failed. However, at the Village Board Meeting, Fire Chief Harris also announced that, looking forward, water would no longer be applied to a burning garbage truck. Instead, firefighters would let a fire-involved truck burn while protecting nearby structures. There would also be an emphasis on getting a burning load out of the truck by dumping the burning garbage in a street or parking lot before flames and heat can affect the CNG cylinders.

Neither the Arlington Heights Fire Department nor the Village of Arlington Heights provided any information to assure the public about the recent garbage truck fire on Friday, June 6, 2025 in the same neighborhood, where neighbors were traumatized by the December 2024 Groot garbage truck fire and explosion. In the December 6, 2024 incident, at least two police officers were injured and were off-duty for injury leave of absence for a prolonged period (several months) because of their injuries. One firefighter was also injured, and a fire engine and a police SUV were also damaged in the explosion.

Also, in March 2025, Arlington Heights Fire Department Chief Lance Harris voted to encrypt the fire dispatch and fireground communication talkgroups for Arlington Heights Fire Department, which will prevent the public and media — for the purposes of public interest, safety, and transparency — from hearing important fire department communications.

While some fire departments, such as those in Denver, Orange County, violence-ridden Waukegan, Illinois, have experimented with or implemented encryption for certain fire talkgroups, the trend for general fire dispatch in the United States remains predominantly unencrypted or “in the clear” as it called — open to the public. Data from the U.S. Fire Administration and anecdotal reports suggest that the majority of approximately 30,000 fire departments in the U.S. continue to use unencrypted radios for dispatch. Some fire departments, such as Los Angeles Fire Department and FDNY even provide real-time logs of their emergency calls online. Los Angeles Fire Department provides the information, sometimes including all or some of the apparatus that is responding to incidents, on social media and on its official website.

None of the fire departments at the Northwest Central Dispatch System (NWCDS) 9-1-1 center system board meetings have indicated any type of remedy to keep the public informed in real-time. The lack of information, especially in time of a major incident, such as a mass shooting, major hazmat with casualties, or natural or man-made disaster with casualties, will result in a cruel secret hoarding of information that will cause the public to be unnecessarily affected by fear and uncertainty.

Additionally, Arlington Heights Fire Department does not have an official Facebook page or X.com account. The majority of fire departments in the United States have official social media accounts. According to a 2018 survey by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), approximately 70% of surveyed fire departments used social media to communicate with the public, with platforms like Twitter (now X) and Facebook being the most common. The percentage is likely higher today, as digital engagement has grown.

Many of these fire departments post updates about major incidents, such as structure fires, crashes, hazardous materials incidents, mass casualties, or fatalities, often through social media, press releases, and website updates. Exceptional fire departments in public safety information provide news information that is current with searchable archives in a blog-style official website. Some fire departments, such as Nashville Fire Department, provide an open portal dataset of “Active Incidents” for public access.

PulsePoint App

In Illinois, some fire departments, via the PulsePoint app, provide a list of Active and Recent incidents (including Naperville; Orland; Orland Hills; Orland Park; Blackhawk; Rockford; and Ayers, Bondville, Broadlands, Brown, Champaign Colfax, Compromise, Condit, Crittenden, Cunninham, Fisher, Mahomet, Ogden, Penfield, Rantoul, Savoy, St Joseph, Thomasboro, Tolono, and Urbana in Champaign County). The PulsePoint App is a 911-connected smartphone app that allows users to view and receive live alerts of calls dispatched by fire departments and emergency medical services. The app aims to have volunteer bystanders trained in CPR help cardiac arrest victims in public locations before emergency crews arrive. The PulsePoint app, which facilitates earlier CPR, can increase the chance of survival of victims. The app interfaces with the local government public safety answering point (9-1-1 center), and notifies users only if the victim is in a public place and only to users that are in the immediate vicinity of the emergency. In February 2017, PulsePoint introduced a professional version called Verified Responder that also alerts Verified Responders regarding victims that are located in residential settings.

Secondary to real-time fire radio communications, digital platforms enable rapid dissemination of information, such as road closures; evacuation notices due to flooding, hazmat, and violent situations; or fire safety alerts. Digital platforms also allow police and fire departments to counter misinformation, and engage directly with communities. So far there is no contingency plan at Northwest Central Dispatch System and its member fire departments and associate fire protection districts to disseminate important real-time information. Instead, curmudgeon-like village managers, and fire chiefs obsessed with secrecy in the Northwest Central Dispatch System lack the common sense and common decency to continue continue to provide emergency information of public interest for a very large area of the northwest suburbs — a population of almost 500,000 people and an area of over 39,265 square miles. The encryption, secrecy, and lack of transparency may possibly occur as early as August 2025.

Some area fire chiefs out of the Northwest Central Dispatch System, off record, have scoffed at the unnecessary expense of encryption and programming, and the ridiculous desire to keep fire communications secret. Encryption can also cause operational difficulties with fire departments that might not have encryption-capable radios. Encrypted systems may prevent firefighters from communicating effectively with neighboring departments that lack compatible encryption keys or advanced radio systems. At Board Meetings at Northwest Central Dispatch System, the authorities have admitted the possibility of operational difficulties with neighboring fire departments. Within the Northwest Central Dispatch System board there was initially a split for pro- and con-encryption. Miraculously, all member communities’ fire department fire chiefs voted to encrypt. Only associate members, Barrington-Countryside Fire Protection District and Inverness Fire Protection District fire chiefs, voted not to encrypt. The vote among City Council Managers and Village Managers was unanimous pro-encryption. Isn’t it interesting that Fire Protection District Fire Chiefs are accountable to their voting public, while City or Village Fire Departments are accountable to their City Council Managers or their Village Managers.

The information in this article is an early report published before any summary information was confirmed or released by police or fire authorities or witness on the scene.

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