The City of Goodyear's Public Works Department has secured the 2025 Best Safety Innovation Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), an accolade that recognizes the city's strides in improving safety protocols during trash truck fires. The award highlights Goodyear's pilot program featuring thermal imaging cameras on city solid waste trucks, designed to avert the hazards presented by the increasing occurrence of such fires across the nation. According to an announcement on the city's website, the surge in these fires is frequently attributed to lithium-ion and rechargeable batteries being mistakenly tossed into household trash.
Goodyear has responded to this challenge by collaborating with Seek Thermal to produce a detection system that monitors the temperature inside the trucks' hopper. An alarm notifies drivers if temperatures soar to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, thereby giving them crucial lead time to dispose of the load in a secure location away from populated areas. "This award is a testament to the bold vision and innovative problem solving from our city employees," City Manager Wynette Reed conveyed to the City of Goodyear website. The innovative system contributes to safeguarding the sanitation staff and mitigating damage to the fleet.
The partnership indicates a significant pioneering step as Goodyear becomes the nation's first to utilize this thermal imaging technology tailored for detecting fires in trash trucks. This system is a product of interdepartmental cooperation between the city's solid waste, fire, and fleet services, who worked diligently to identify the potential threat, seek effective solutions, and execute the high-tech system. Public Works Director Sumeet Mohan shared with Goodyear's press release, "I am very proud of our Solid Waste and Fleet Maintenance divisions that collaborated on creating and developing this innovative system."
Alongside the introduction of this tech, Goodyear is pushing efforts to educates its citizenry on the correct disposal of batteries that can pose a fire risk. The city urges the use of designated recycling centers or hazardous waste collection sites for these items, information on which is provided on the city's website at goodyearaz.gov/hhw.
