ORRINGTON, Maine — After 10 days of nonstop battling, Orrington Fire Chief Scott Stewart stood proudly at the podium set up at the station ready to announce that the fire at the former PERC plant had been fully extinguished.
"Early on this week, we set Friday as our target and our goal, and we managed that," Stewart said.
According to Stewart, the more than weeklong effort took the dedication of his firefighters spraying down piles of flaming trash at every hour of the day, with major assistance from some neighbors.
"We had departments from Bucksport, Holden, Eddington, Brewer, Hudson, Bradford, Charleston," Stewart listed.
One of the department's biggest focuses has been reducing the impacts the burning trash has had on the surrounding air quality, which has returned to normal levels.
"When you're having sporting events canceled and kids can't go outside for recess, we wanted to fix that as quickly as possible so people can get back to their lives," Stewart said.
And now moving forward, Orrington Town Manager Chris Backman said the main priority is removing the burnt and soaked trash from the facility to Juniper Ridge Landfill.
"Helping move the pile, dig at the hot spots, and get to smoldering areas," Backman said.
While the process has been difficult, he said they're seeing some success.
"Monday, we got 17 loads out of the facility, 444 tons. Tuesday was 13 loads, 343 tons," Backman said.
Efforts officials with the Eagle Point Energy Center, the current owners of the facility, said it would help them continue with their plans to restart operations sometime next year.
"We want to publicly state our great appreciation and thanks for the rapid response from first responders on the night of the fire including those from neighboring communities," Evan Coleman with EPEC said in a statement.
Backman said the town is guessing there are nearly 6,000 tons of unburned trash still onsite at the facility.