Firefighters are still at the scene more than a week after the trash fire at the incinerator

It will take about two weeks to remove smoldering debris from a Maine town’s trash incinerator after a fire burned through the waste for a week, officials said Tuesday.

Firefighters have been stationed continuously at the incinerator, which was shut down in 2023 and purchased by Eagle Point Energy Center, since the fire started on October 1. They remained on hand to extinguish hot spots. Eagle Point suggested a lithium battery started the fire, but the fire chief said the cause of the fire may never be known.

The 6,000 tons (5,443 metric tons) of trash are being removed from a 200-by-400-foot (60-by-120-meter) building in Orrington, a town on the Penobscot River where the fire started, Chris Backman said , the city administrator.

At one point, smoke from the fire prompted the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to issue an air quality alert. It was deemed acceptable this week.

The waste is transported to the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town.

Orrington Fire Chief Scott Stewart said he hopes firefighters can leave the scene by Friday.

Eagle Point Energy Center said it still hopes to restart the incinerator next year. Garbage from dozens of communities has been sent to the Juniper Ridge Landfill instead of being burned since 2023.

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