Yap Island Hospital, in the Western Pacific Ocean, Installs a New Medical Waste Incinerator

When the hospital on Yap Island, one of 600 islands in the Federated States of Micronesia, needed to replace their medical waste incinerator, they knew exactly what they wanted: a Firelake P-16 incinerator.

Yap Island is one of four island states in the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap itself is a small cluster of islands. These beautiful tropical islands are home to roughly 11,000 people and at least as many coconut and papaya trees. This compact island, it's just 10 miles long by 2- 4 miles wide, is covered in lush, rolling hills surrounded by pristine beaches.

Getting anything to this island paradise is not quick or easy. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, prepare for a leisurely 19-hour flight from Seattle to this cluster of tiny islands. The incinerator traveled by cargo ship but Howard, owner of Northwest Industrial Equipment, and Todd, from Firelake, flew to Yap, to be on site for the incinerator installation. With layovers in Honolulu and Guam (there are no direct flights to Yap Island), it was more than full two days of travel.

Reliability, durability, and ease of maintenance are naturally at the top of the priority list when you buy mission critical equipment to use on a remote island. The hospital administrators knew they could count on a Firelake incinerator. Their new Firelake P-16 incinerator replaced a Firelake P-16 incinerator that had been faithfully incinerating all of the hospital’s medical waste for more than two decades.

The installation itself was more challenging than most – and it didn't go according to plan. Firelake incinerators are robust enough to be located in the open air. Many facilities build a small shed for the incinerator. At the Yap hospital, the best location for the incinerator was in the basement of the main three-story building. The crane that was supposed to hoist the 300 lb. sections of the 50-foot stainless steel stack into place never showed up. It was out of commission until repair parts could arrive. Undeterred, ten mighty men including the hospital maintenance team and a few others, were a perfect demonstration of the Yap motto, "We make do". Using a block and tackle plus seasoned ingenuity, these men installed the stack through all three floors and out the roof. There were some nail-biting moments – and these men over-came every single one. Their teamwork and ingenuity were truly impressive.

Their new Firelake P-16 incinerator is just as durable and easy to use as their retiring P-16 incinerator, with several modern improvements. The two new features they are most excited about are the new state-of-the-art digital control panel and the stainless steel stack. The new stack will weather the salt air better than the original. The maintenance team breezed through their training on how to operate and maintain their new Firelake P-16 incinerator.

Firelake P-16 Medical Waste Incinerator Features

The Firelake P-16 is specially designed for safe, easy operation at small facilities. It includes many of the features of high-priced incineration systems but free of needless bells and whistles so it’s affordable for small facilities. 

• Capacity: 400 lbs; volume: 16.5 cu feet
• Efficient: during incineration, waste is reduced by 98% in less than four hours; 400 lbs of medical waste is transformed into less than 10 pounds of sterile, inert ash which can be disposed of in the regular waste stream
• Simple: state-of-the-art digital control panel; one click to start the incineration cycle; the incinerator shuts off automatically when the full incineration cycle is completed
• Reliable: built-to-last and proven to run reliably every day for decades
• Worry-free: easy to maintain by their own maintenance staff with the same tools they use for other hospital maintenance tasks
• Saves money: Firelake incinerators have the lowest cost of operation in the industry
• Clean-running: the incinerator meets or exceeds all applicable air-quality regulations; it emits no visible smell or smoke so passers-by will never notice it
• Compact: a small 4 ft by 6.5 ft base makes it easy to locate at any facility
• Fuel options: select from diesel (like Yap hospital), LP, or natural gas

Contact us today to talk with a medical waste incineration specialist about your requirements.