BRIDGETON, Mo. (AP) — Residents who live near a landfill where an underground fire is burning near nuclear waste want the atomic material removed.

Hundreds of people turned out Tuesday night at Pattonville High School for a meeting hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The meeting was aimed at calming fears about the fire at the Bridgeton Landfill.

Instead, many in the crowd implored the EPA to remove the nuclear waste that sits in an adjacent landfill about 1,200 feet from the underground fire.

Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources believe a system of gas wells installed in April is helping limit movement of the fire. EPA officials say provisions are in place to keep the fire from the nuclear waste.