Four more sites, with an estimated 191,500 tires, were cleaned using state waste tire funds. By the end of 1998, however, IDEM had identified 10 more illegal tire sites. Cleanup of additional sites using state funds is planned for 1999. Problems with tire piles Large waste tire piles are breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitos. If set on fire, large tire piles burn with intense heat, blowing thick, black hazardous smoke downwind.
Tire fires are difficult to extinguish, sometimes burning for days.