The fire at the Eagle Point Energy Center has not been affected by Saturday’s rain.
The fire continues to burn at the facility, with emergency personnel remaining on-site 24 hours a day, according to Orrington Fire Chief Scott Stewart said Saturday.
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.
As of Friday, around 1.5 million gallons of water had been dumped on the burning trash pile. Fire suppression systems were being used on Saturday.
Stewart noted that because of the current weather system, the smoke is not being moved out of the area as quickly and could be concentrating the majority of the fumes in neighboring communities.
The smoke released by the blaze blanketed nearby towns for days after the fire broke out, with the air quality warning finally lifted by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection on Friday afternoon. A report released Friday night showed that low levels of benzene and other chemicals had been detected in air samples from the area.
Many of the crew that are monitoring the situation are personnel from neighboring fire departments, because of the intensity of the workload.
Some progress has been made on the main challenge of extricating the trash in order to fully extinguish the flames, Scott said. He expects the bulk of the process to get underway on Monday.
According to Scott, the department plans to hold a joint press conference to update the public on the facility conditions by Tuesday or Wednesday. At a Friday morning press conference, he said he believed the “cause will likely never be truly determined,” noting that the source is “likely within the pile.”
Multiple BDN writers contributed to this report.
