Yaphank compost plant fire emits 'foul' smell

 A raging pre-dawn fire at a compost plant in Yaphank filled the air with a putrid smell Monday, as volunteers from 19 Suffolk County fire departments battled to bring the big blaze under control, county police and fire officials said.

The fire at the Long Island Compost site on Horseblock Road and Yaphank Avenue was reported at 2:41 a.m., Suffolk fire officials said.

Centered in a 200-by-400-foot pile of mulch that officials said is piled at least 50 feet high, the fire was still burning strong at 6:45 a.m. Observers said the smell of the burning compost was “foul.”

Departments battling the blaze include: Brookhaven, Yaphank, Middle Island, Medford, Center Moriches, Hagerman, Mastic, Mastic Beach, Bellport, Coram, MacArthur Airport, North Patchogue, Patchogue, Ridge, Manorville, Eastport, Blue Point, Farmingville and Holtsville. South Country Ambulance, Mastic Ambulance, Medford Ambulance and Islip Exchange Ambulance also were on site to aid firefighters, though officials said there had been no reported injuries — and no one had been transported from the scene.

According to its web site Long Island Compost is the “leading provider of organic materials, services and products” on Long Island. The company, founded by three brothers — Charles, Arnold and Dominic Vigliotti — over 30 years ago, says it recycles hundreds of thousands of tons of leaves, grass clippings and other landscape-related materials annually. “The company also plays a critical role in developing organic, earth-friendly solutions to the region’s most daunting environmental challenges,” the site says, “including the remediation of the Peconic Bay and vital South Shore waterways.”

Among its projects, the company supplied projects for Citi Field, the home of the Mets, and for the High Line reconstruction project in Manhattan.

It was not immediately clear how the fire began, officials said. Clippings, however, can be highly-combustible under the right weather conditions.