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A massive fire that broke out at the Orrington trash incinerator Tuesday night was still smoldering Wednesday morning.
The blaze erupted in the southern end of the Eagle Point Energy Center, which is located along the shores of the Penobscot River. Char marks and burnt holes were visible throughout parts of the facility as black smoke continued to billow out of the facility, a Bangor Daily News reporter saw.
Majority owner Evan Coleman, Orrington Town Manager Chris Backman and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection did not immediately respond to requests for comment. No fire departments were available to speak at the scene of the fire.
It’s unclear what the scale of the damage to the trash plant is, but it’s likely to be a massive blow to EPEC, which was planning to reopen this fall to resume burning trash for towns in Greater Bangor and beyond. Coleman bought the facility in February 2024, and the town of Orrington is a 25% owner of the plant.
Black smoke could be seen from the Interstate 395 bridge over the Penobscot River and from more than a mile away on Orrington’s River Road on Wednesday morning.
A U.S. Environmental Protection Services vehicle, labeled “Emergency Response,” arrived at the scene around 10:30 a.m., a BDN reporter saw. A semitrailer from Gregory’s Disposal, a Fairfield-based garbage collection company, arrived at the facility shortly after 10 a.m., as did Weston Solutions, an environmental firm.
This blaze started less than two years after a 10-day fire erupted at the facility in October 2024. That fire burned mostly on the tipping floor, the opposite side of the plant from where this week’s fire is located.
At least 10 fire departments were at the trash plant shortly before midnight Tuesday. Fire departments were filling tanker trucks with water at two hydrants, including one near the Brewer town line, and returning to the trash plant that was formerly known as Penobscot Energy Recovery Co.
The Department of Environmental Protection has issued an air quality alert for the region, saying that emissions from the fire are producing very high levels of particle pollution.
The facility had been shuttered after a foreclosure in 2023 but it said it would start accepting trash again in August. It is licensed to operate as a solid waste transfer facility, meaning it can accept trash, consolidate it and bring it to another location, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
Orrington has invested at least $3.7 million of taxpayer money and is supposed to receive monthly mortgage payments of $24,721 from EPEC. The town placed a nearly $186,000 lien on the facility in August for failure to pay taxes. That lien has not been discharged as of Wednesday, according to the Penobscot County Registry of Deeds.