The article discusses the suitability of several existing empirical models for determining the safe separation distances (SSDs) for waste fuels. Contour plots of SSDs are generated based on isotropic thermal radiation model for safely storing municipal solid waste (MSW) bales under different storage settings and the plots can be employed for routine hazard assessment purposes. Further, experimental design technique was employed, and orthogonal test matrices were generated to conduct the experiments for studying the combustion dynamics of the primary fire under the influence of storage settings of surrounding fuel units. Main and interaction effects of various storage parameters (e.g., height of adjacent fuel sources, clearance between fuel sources and array size) on the response variables (flame height and burn out time) was studied. A list of appropriate measures for minimising the risk of secondary fires at MSW bale storage sites are provided.