Oregon man's 'dream property' quickly turns into a nightmare...after builders arrived to find over 50,000 TIRES dumped on the land

UK Mail ^ | 14 July 2026 | JACK TOLEDO

[dennisw]

A man's 'dream property' in Oregon turned into a nightmare after he found more than 50,000 tires dumped on his land.

Khanh Tran, a soon-to-be father, purchased a 1.2-acre property in April where he hired contractors to build his new home in Portland, according to KATU.

Tran had agreed to remove a small pile of about 50 tires on the land, but when he returned in June with a contractor, the pile had become an ocean of rubber.

Footage showed stacks of tires in mountains several feet high that the homeowner estimates are anywhere between 50,000 and 75,000.

'It was a nightmare when I saw it,' Tran told OPB.

'It stressed me out so much. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't sleep for the first few days of that.'

The sea of rubber has sparked a probe by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating potential trespassing and 'offensive littering.'

Unfortunately, the dumping has delayed Tran's plans, but it hasn't deterred him from fulfilling his dreams.

'I'm not giving up. No way,' said Tran to KGW8. 'This is my home.'

He launched a GoFundMe not only to remove the tires but also to help restore the environment damaged by the thousands of pounds of rubber.

Trans has raised nearly $5,000 as of this report and is aiming to reach its $50,000 goal.

'The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office treats public safety and environmental hazards with the utmost seriousness,' an MCSO spokesperson said in a statement.

[bert]

Why?

It’s Portland

Portland has resigned from America and is not American

[Clay Moore]

Tim Waltz’s “wife” enjoys the smell of burning tires so maybe he could find someone to haul them to Minneapolis, throw them over the fence at the governors mansion and torch them. Win/win!

[Does so]

There are probably “new car take-offs” in there. (Identified by their little rubber ‘whiskers’).

Trace them to a tire- or automotive dealership...

[Does so]

Maybe fifteen years ago, lightning set off a NH wildfire where millions of used tires burned for days...

[Vaduz]

He could make sandals out of the them a good side line.

[Does so]

Canterbury, NH. 1989. Seemed like just yesterday.

:-/

[Quickgun]

We had a pretty big tire recycler here, but they went out of business. They cited the high cost and upkeep of the machines that were used to recycle steel belted tires.(could have just been poor management, I don’t know) And steel belted tires are a very high percentage of the market now. Burning any quantity of them will get you a citation here in my area of Texas, you can use one or two to ignite a brush pile, but if you set a bunch of them ablaze by themselves, you’ll get ticketed. Some people wait until a moonless night and torch them, though.

[Quickgun]

We had a tire recycling plant here. They wouldn’t go pick up any from anywhere, said they weren’t worth it, you had to take tires to them. Tire disposal is a real problem. No one wants them, they never biodegrade There is a creek in the back of my property that looks like what is a model A Ford tire and rim in it. The rim is mostly rusted away, the tire is still intact...

[Carry_Okie]

Earth filled tires can make good retaining walls. Shredded rubber can also be incorporated into asphalt concrete, thus improving road pavement flexibility without cracking.

From Brave AI:

Experiments incorporating shredded tires into asphalt concrete have generally resulted in superior pavement performance compared to conventional mixes, particularly in resistance to cracking, rutting, and UV degradation. Early attempts using larger rubber particles in hot mix asphalt suffered from mix design flaws and insufficient binder, leading to elevated failure rates, but later studies using finer crumb rubber in asphalt binders showed that rubber-modified pavements performed at least as well as standard hot mix asphalt.

Specific benefits identified in research include:

Enhanced Durability: Pavements using recycled asphalt concrete (RAC) showed a much slower progress of distresses than structurally equivalent dense-graded asphalt concrete. UV Protection: Asphalt with 18–22% crumb rubber exhibited half the UV damage of regular asphalt, potentially doubling the surface lifespan by acting as a sunscreen against aging. Flexibility and Fatigue Resistance: Rubber-modified asphalt improves resistance to traffic loads and fatigue, with Texas DOT studies noting excellent performance in porous friction courses.

While these results are promising, initial challenges regarding cost and the need for strict quality control systems were significant hurdles that had to be overcome to achieve field performance equal to or better than conventional materials.

In a nation full of crumbling roads, perhaps we should get cracking on more shredding equipment. It looks like the long-term costs will be in trucking and mixing.

[Retain Mike]

So, in two months 50 tires grow to 75,000. Something does not add up.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"Side effect of over burdnsome eco nazi rules. They overcharge for something that used to be cheap, hence some shops have resorted to illegal disposal."

And that is EXACTLY why you find MOUNTAINS of dirt, rocks, junk, excavation debris, tree trunks and limbs, and household waste all over California roads. It'll sit there for several years until the authorities haul it away. Then it reappears magically overnight. Some spots are so bad that they are completely full and the illegal dumpers have to find other spots.

A few years back, I drove to the local dump in Milpitas, CA and it was a $100 fee just to enter! Didn't matter if you had to dispose of a single sheet of paper -- $100 to just get in.

At our place in North Idaho, there are zero fees for residents. It's got the best waste disposal, hazardous waste drop-off, and recycling operation I've ever seen. Highly organized, no fees, great staff. You can drop off garbage, yard waste, cut-up trees, plastics, batteries, cardboard...you name it. And, because it's free, there are no mountains of waste on the roadsides.

[going hot]

with flat boards buried in the dirt and 3 inch nails protruding from them long likely avenues of entrance.

[Hot Tabasco]

Grand Prix race venues use thousands of old tires to line the track curves to protect the cars from hitting the cement walls......

The Detroit Grand Prix is one example.

[shotgun]

Not buying this story. It will most likely cost over $1 million to remove and dispose of these tires.

My guess is he bought it this way, and the HoFund Me is a scam

[Red Badger]

Each state’s DOT could have a recycling plant that serves their citizens highway needs. Larger states more than one.................

[Doctor Congo]

There’s a thousand snakes living in that pile of tires.

[shotgun]

30 years ago, Washington department of transportation tried experiment of ground up tires being used in the making of Asphalt. The highway held up fine until the runber content spontaneously combusted. It smoldered for several years until they removed that section of the freeway outside of Spokane

[Steven Tyler]

that would not stop my neighbours yard a pult

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6prPrnXutKY

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””” Khanh Tran, a soon-to-be father, purchased a 1.2-acre property in April where he hired contractors to build his new home in Portland, according to KATU.””””

---

Such is what happens to a fool. His money is soon parted. Buying land without ever looking at it is the epitome of foolishness.

[HollyB]

“Robertson said he called the police but was told there was little they could do because the land was private property.”

Absolutely ridiculous. It was a hazard and being dumped without authorization.

The city would have certainly been ok to fine him for having 50k tires on ‘private’ property.