ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — On fire and spreading smoke. That’s how neighbors describe a St. Johns County facility that they say is burning wood more frequently than it should.
St. Johns County Commissioners took emergency action this week to investigate the yard waste business. According to a press release issued Tuesday evening, the county is "actively progressing toward revoking the permit, taking decisive steps to cease the operations.
"It’s affecting our health. We can’t enjoy our homes. We can’t go outside. We can’t go for a walk," Genevieve Mongon told First Coast News. She said the smoke from a nearby business is affecting her, her family and her neighbors who live in and near the Palencia community in St. Johns County.
"Everybody thought it was just a controlled burn. Nobody was aware that the facility was on fire," she said.
She’s talking about the Ancient City Wood Recycling yard on Saint Marks Pond Boulevard a couple miles away from her home. According to the business’ own description sent to the state, the outdoor operation stores waste wood and sorts, separates, and chips/grinds it for the recovery of biofuel and mulch.
The principal of Palencia Elementary School has kept children inside several times in the last few weeks when the smoke outside was heavy. It's unclear if the smoke affecting the school was from Ancient City Wood Recycling, but some mothers believe it was.
"We’ve been incased in smoke and ash three times from this facility," Mongon said.
Tuesday, she and other concerned neighbors showed St. Johns County Commissioners pictures of fires from 2022, 2023 and one from mid-February 2024 which they say showed the facility on fire.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection documents confirm that fires did take place at the business site during those dates. Ultimately, DEP investigations in the last year found multiple violations including unauthorized open burning, objectionable odors, and unauthorized processing that violates air quality standards. Most recently the DEP told the facility it could not bring in more wood to burn and it had to put out the fire that is still burning on its property.
Wednesday, First Coast News observed small flames and smoke at the site.
A video shared with First Coast News shows firefighters putting out flames at the business Wednesday around 4:30 p.m.
"I think the place needs to be shut down," Mongon said.
First Coast News reached out to the owner and his attorney. The attorney said he himself could not respond.
Mongon and others have pleaded with the state and the county to take action. Tuesday St. Johns County commissioners voted to investigate to see if Ancient City Wood Recycling is violating the special use permit the county issued. Part of that permit limits burn times to once a week when the wind is blowing away from Mongon’s neighborhood.
Wednesday evening, a press release from the St. Johns County Government said, "Following the Board's decision (Tuesday), the business owner reached an agreement with the County to discontinue the burning operation this morning. However, instead of following through with this agreement, the business chose to continue burning materials, bringing the business further out of compliance. The County immediately deployed Fire Rescue to the location. Fire Rescue will remain on site until the fire is extinguished. Additionally, County Administration will issue a cease and desist letter to the business."