ASCENSION PARISH - On Wednesday morning residents of a Gonzales home woke up to find a veritable landfill in front of their house.

Tara Taillon, a resident of Pelican Point subdivision told WBRZ she was shocked when a Waste Pro garbage truck dumped a truckload of trash in front of her home.

But after speaking with Waste Pro officials, it turns out that this situation could have been much worse. 

A Waste Pro representative explained that someone had put a flammable object in their trash and the load caught fire.

So, in accordance with national protocol in such situations, the driver of the truck dropped the load to prevent the truck from becoming engulfed in flames.

The sight of a pile of trash may be unpleasant, but the truck driver's quick action prevented a possible fire.

The company later sent workers to clean up the trash in front of Taillon's home. 

Waste Pro services says these situations can be caused by lithium batteries, charcoal thought to be not hot etc. 

The company is responsible for removing solid waste and recycling materials in over two million residential and commercial customers in more than 500 towns and municipalities across the South. 

Waste Pro has been serving the Gonzales area since 2012.