Fresno County supervisors combatting illegal dumping

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Loads of garbage sit along Fresno County roads near Valentine and Nielsen.

There are tires, heavy equipment, and couches, but that's not all.

"Boats, refrigerators, cars," said Fresno County resident David Rojo. "Dressers, clothes, just about anything, anything you could possibly probably have in your house, they throw it out there."

Daniel Rojo lives near one of the 500-plus sites reported in the county to have illegal dumping and tells Action News it's downright embarrassing.

"Its real frustrating because we have people coming over, and your like, we can't do nothing about it, they come in the middle of the night," said Rojo.

He says just two weeks ago, he saw crews cleaning up the trash, and it's already piling up again without an end in sight.

"It seems like the people, they figure, well, look, we've already done it, we can keep coming back, and we can keep coming back, and they'll keep picking it up, and we're not gonna get charged," said Rojo.

Rojo believes the problem is how expensive or far it can be to take items to a transfer station or dump, which is why those with A&G towing who have a business near the dirty dumping take action into their own hands.

"Its causing wear and tear on our equipment, everybody dumps out here, nobody cleans it up," said Anthony Lopez with A&G Towing. "We clean it up ourselves."

Chairman and board supervisor Nathan Magsig says they are aware of the trash troubles.

"A couple of months ago, the board of supervisors, we took action on an item, setting aside more money to public works so they could hire additional contractors to go in and clean up a lot of these spots throughout the county," said Fresno Co. Board Supervisor, Nathan Magsig.

Rojo says he notices the problem is not as bad in city areas, but while the city of Fresno is able to have garbage collectors on staff, county public works says it's different.

"The county does not have that, even people that live in the county and contract out their garbage service. They're contracting it out with contractors, so the county does not have garbage collection service," said Wendy Nakagawa with Fresno County Public Works.

The county is still in the process of hiring those four contractors.

But Rojo believes things won't change until there's enforcement and has a message for those dumping trash.

"Quit, quit doing it man, how would they like if we went and did this to them and threw it in front of their yards, they wouldn't like it, and we don't like it either," said Rojo.

To report illegal dumping, you can call county public works or use the Fresno County Connect app.

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