Honolulu police reopened a section of Young Street near Keeaumoku Street this afternoon after a private garbage truck dumped its burning load onto the road today.

West Oahu Aggregate general manager Bill Comstock said that a chemical reaction caused the fire in the rear of one of its trucks, and that the driver did the right thing when he dumped the tons of burning garbage.

At about 7:30 a.m., Honolulu Fire Department responded to a call of a fire in a garbage load on Young Street. Responding firefighters sprayed foam on the smoldering garbage and remained to monitor hot spots.

West Oahu Aggregate sent equipment to clean up the large garbage pile that its truck dumped.

Comstock said drivers are trained to find an area where they can safely discharge a load, and the fire department is called to put out the flames.

He emphasized: “Don’t throw away chemicals because you can never tell what happens.”

If one person throws out one type of chemical and it reacts with another chemical someone else disposes of, they may react with one another, he said.

Sometimes the chemicals sit at the bottom of the bin and if oily rags are thrown out, it could result in spontaneous combustion, Comstock said.

He said this happens every few years, but doesn’t happen all the time.

He urges the public to properly dispose of chemicals at a designated location, which the city usually publishes at least once a year.

>> Click here for more photos from the scene of the fire.