A massive fire broke out Tuesday night at a trash plant along the Penobscot River in Orrington.
The fire broke out at Eagle Point Energy Center, formerly known as Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., on Industrial Way about 8:30 p.m., according to Orrington Assistant Fire Chief Chad Bean.
Firefighters came from as far as Levant and Eddington to assist Orrington crews in their battle against the blaze.
When firefighters arrived, they found the flames had spread through the entire tipping floor and were rising through the 200-by-400-foot steel roof of the building, Bean said in an early Wednesday morning news release.
Crews have been unable to safely get inside the building to extinguish the blaze and remove a 40-foot tall trash pile.
“The fire is contained [and] still burning and will take several days to fully extinguish,” Bean wrote.
In a statement from Eagle Point Energy Center, the company said that the facility sustained “negligible damage.”
While the investigation is still underway, Eagle Point Energy said a lithium-ion battery may have caused the fire.
Meanwhile, Bean said, “We are highly encouraging all Orrington and Hampden residents to keep their windows closed at this time due to the significant smoke problem this fire is creating.”
The former PERC facility has operated as a trash incinerator for the region. It was bought by new owners in March.
Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated when the fire started and the size of the building where the fire broke out.