in 1983, a 7 million tire fire in Virginia resulted in a plume of smoke 3,000 feet high and nearly 50 miles long, polluting 3 states with lead and arsenic. It burned for 9 months... for two reasons, 1) there was that much fuel .

The 2nd reason? The decision to be made with a fire like this is the “let it burn” choice, increasing air pollution, or the “water suppression” choice that has the potential to contaminate ground water supplies 

7 million tires on fire allowed to burn would release 141,000 pounds of benzene, a carcinogen, 70,000 pounds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (many are carcinogenic), 10,000 pounds of butadiene, a chemical linked to leukemia, thousands of pounds of carbon monoxide and particulates and trace amounts of arsenic, chromium, lead and zinc.

a lightning strike ignited a fire in the Filbin tire pile located in a canyon on the east slope of the coastal mountain range. 

The tire dump contained an estimated seven million scrap tires piled on steep slopes of the canyon. The fire spread quickly and engulfed most of the main tire pile. 

The tire fire produced large volumes of pyrolytic oil that flowed off the slope and into the drainage of an intermittent stream. The oil runoff was initially contained behind an existing stock watering pond consisting of a small earthen dam and impoundment structure.

 A reduction in smoke emissions was evident as the tire fire entered into the smoldering stage. The burning tires in the drainage ignited the oil flowing in the stream. 

The large oil fire significantly increased the smoke emissions and a local climatic inversion caused the smoke to remain close to ground level. The response to the oil and tire fires quickly overwhelmed the resources of the local and State agencies.

It took 27 days to extinguish the fire. Over 250,000 gallons of pyrolytic oil were recovered from the containment pond. 

An estimated 4 million gallons of contaminated fire fighting water were impounded on site in a series of constructed basins within the drainage channel

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/09/25/florida-man-builds-fortress-of-tires-around-marion-county-property/

These mega tire dumps are not rare, and they seem to catch on fire annually

Sept 1984 – A pile estimated at four million tires, known locally as Mount Firestone, ignited in Everett, Washington, and continued to burn, smolder, and pollute until May 1985

1996 - Panoche Hills Tire Fire, Fresno County - 3 million tires 

1997 - Gila River Tire Fire, Arizona - 3 million tires 

1998 - Tracy Tire Fire, San Joaquin County - 5 million tires 

1998 - Ordot Landfill Tire Fire, Guam - 1 million tires 

1999 - Westley Tire Fire, Stanislaus County - 7 million tires

2005 - the Wisconsin Watertown Tire Recyclers - 0.5 million tires

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsdl.org%2Fc%2Fview%3Fdocid%3D765870&psig=AOvVaw3Hl5fZrTjw4xECXrINFlZo&ust=1759011786282000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBYQjhxqFwoTCMjor9i7948DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAe

The Westley Fire was also about 7 million tires, 

Back in the 1950's, Edward Joseph Filbin opened a dump for scrap tires on his ranch. The dump was in a canyon about 35 miles southeast of San Francisco Bay and 1/4 miles from Interstate highway 5. 

As you travel up the canyon from the valley into the hills the canyon gradually became deeper, the walls became higher and steeper. Filbin dumped the tires on the very steep eastern slopes of the main canyon.

Filbin had constructed a road that took haulers to the hillside above the canyon of tires. Haulers would drive to a steel-plated ramp placed over the pile at the top of the canyon and extended out over the precipice. 

The ramp was actually part of the runway of an aircraft carrier. The trucks would back up onto the ramp and dump over the side building up piles that were 60 feet deep

By 1987 it was estimated that Filbin had accumulated 40 million tires stacked 80 feet high on the slopes. This would have made the Filbin pile the largest tire pile in the country. 

In 1988, Modesto started-up the first tire burning co-generation power plant. The power plant was built on a tall hill overlooking the tire pile. The source of tire-derived fuel was a combination of old tires from the scrap pile and new tires that were brought to the facility by contracted haulers. The heat generated by burning tires converted water into high pressure steam which drove a turbine and generator and produced electricity that was sold to Pacific Gas & Electric. 

The tire incinerator burned 18,000 tires per day, 6 million tires per year or 60% of northern California scrap tires. This provided electricity for 18,000 homes. But the reduction in the size of the pile was slow because the older scrap tires had less BTU value than the newer tires. The daily consumption of tires included only 20% old tires. The energy plant eventually reduced the pile to 7 million tires.

On January 22, 1999, a rare lightning storm moved into the area. Hundreds of lightning strikes were recorded. One lightning bolt struck the metal ramp and ignited the tires in the Filbin tire pile. The fire roared down the canyon with a 200 foot high fireball leading the conflagration. Temperatures were over 2,000 degrees F. The smoke plume formed a tornado-like vortex lifting the smoke upwards in a spiraling chimney reaching 6,000 feet in altitude.

Oil was produced in the tire fire by pyrolysis - the low temperature distillation of a tire in the absence of air. The average passenger tire contained an equivalent of two gallons of oil. The Filbin tire pile contained 7 million tires or 14 million gallons of oil. For comparison, the largest U.S. oil spill was the Exxon Valdez which spilled 11 million gallons into Prince William Sound.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/288234-b-and-w-photo-of-tire-fire?in=614-activity