The Orrington trash will continue to burn for at least the next several days.
The fire has blanketed the Penobscot River Valley with smoke since Tuesday night and impaired air quality from the midcoast to Acadia National Park to Calais.
On Tuesday night, a massive fire broke out at Eagle Point Energy Center, formerly known as Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. That blaze has been contained, but it will likely take several days to fully extinguish.
That’s in part because firefighters, who came from as far away as Levant and Eddington, have been unable to safely enter the 200-by-400-foot building where the blaze is burning on the tipping floor.
During a Friday morning news conference, Orrington Fire Chief Scott Stewart said there’s still no concrete timeline for when the blaze will be put out. The trash pile continues to smolder, and firefighters are on the scene 24/7 to extinguish flare ups as they happen.
Stewart said that about 1.5 million gallons of water have been dumped on the burning trash pile, but that has been unable to get deep into it to douse the heart of the blaze.
Until contractors determine whether the building is safe to enter, firefighters won’t be able to begin digging into the pile to put out the fire, officials said Friday morning.
Stewart added that the “cause will likely never be truly determined,” noting that the source is “likely within the pile.”
The owners of Eagle Point Energy Center have speculated that a lithium-ion battery may have sparked the conflagration, an explanation met with skepticism from Orrington fire officials. But on Friday a representative of the company, Evan Coleman, suggested a battery, propane tank or spontaneous combustion could have caused the fire.
Improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries have caused many blazes at the facility on Industrial Way over the years, and a trash pile there spontaneously combusted in November 2023.
Coleman blasted the facility’s previous owners for “negligence,” saying they left 10,000 tons of trash sitting there. He noted that Eagle Point Energy hasn’t been accepting trash and has reduced the trash pile there by nearly 50 percent over the past several months.
Coleman said that Eagle Point Energy intends to move ahead with refurbishing the facility beginning later this year, with a goal of reopening, accepting trash and resuming energy production in 2025.
In the meantime, Orrington and Hampden residents have been advised to keep their windows closed because of the significant smoke given off by the fire. Bangor schools on Thursday turned off external air handling units and moved recess and physical education classes inside.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection issued an updated air quality alert, noting moderate levels of particle pollution from the fire stretching from the midcoast to interior eastern Maine to Down East.
People should limit any strenuous physical activities outdoors, particularly very young children, older adults and those with asthma, other respiratory disorders or heart disease.
Questions and concerns remain over potential health impacts from the fire. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency collected particulates and dust near the facility Wednesday and Thursday and found “nothing hazardous.”
