The Orrington trash fire has finally been put out more than a week after it started.
Orrington’s assistant fire chief, Chad Bean, said Friday morning that it took crews nearly 10 days to fully extinguish the blaze.
Once fire crews leave Eagle Point Energy Center, the building and property will be turned over to its owners to continue hauling out the trash pile.
“The health and safety of our citizens and neighboring towns has been our main focus since this fire started over a week ago and with many hands, this high priority objective was accomplished,” Bean said in a statement.
On the night of Oct. 1, a massive fire broke out at Eagle Point Energy Center, formerly known as Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. That blaze was quickly contained, but crews struggled to extinguish the fire.
That’s in part because firefighters, who came from as far away as Levant and Eddington, were unable to safely enter the 200-by-400-foot building where the blaze burned on the tipping floor.
The fire blanketed the region with smoke, prompting officials to advise Orrington and Hampden residents to keep their windows closed. Nearby schools moved recess and physical education classes indoors. The smoke impaired air quality over a wide swath of the state from the midcoast across eastern interior Maine.
Last week, Orrington Fire Chief Scott Stewart said that about 1.5 million gallons of water have been dumped on the burning trash pile. That water was unable to get deep into it to douse the heart of the blaze. Crews had to dig into the trash pile in order to reach the heart of the fire.
Stewart added that the “cause will likely never be truly determined,” noting that the source was “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 during a news conference last week, 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.
The plant’s former owners have sued Eagle Point Energy.
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 in the days after the fire started and found “nothing hazardous.”
A report released on the night of Oct. 4 showed that low levels of benzene and other chemicals had been detected in air samples from the area.
Benzene, which can cause blood issues and even leukemia after long-term exposure, was most present in those air samples. At low exposure levels, airborne benzene can cause drowsiness, dizziness, headaches and an irregular heartbeat
Officials planned a news conference for Friday afternoon to provide another update about the fire.
