Lewiston firefighters battle a smoky blaze Saturday afternoon at the ReEnergy construction and demolition material recycling facility plant at 38 Alfred Plourde Parkway in Lewiston. The plant has been the site of numerous fires over the past few decades, some taking weeks to fully extinguish. Parts of the city saw smoke as high winds fueled the fire, spreading smoke through neighborhoods miles away. (Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
A Lewiston firefighter was taken to a hospital Saturday for heat exhaustion while the Lewiston Fire Department put out a fire in a large pile of debris at ReEnergy Lewiston, a recycling facility for construction and demolition materials on Alfred A. Plourde Parkway.
Twenty-seven Lewiston firefighters responded to the industrial park for the fire reported at about 4:15 p.m., Assistant Fire Chief Mark Anderson said.
It was a 50-by-50-foot pile of debris, he said. The large pile was already fully burning when firefighters arrived on scene. Parts of the city saw smoke as high wind fueled the fire, spreading smoke through neighborhoods miles away.
Lewiston firefighters battle a smoky blaze Saturday afternoon at the ReEnergy construction and demolition material recycling facility plant at 38 Alfred Plourde Parkway in Lewiston.(Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
Contractors at the facility used excavators to break up the pile so firefighters could hose it down and put the fire out, Anderson said.
Firefighters left the scene at about 9:54 p.m.
The firefighter who was treated for heat exhaustion was taken by United Health Ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and was treated and released, Anderson said.
Other fire departments that responded were asked to stand by at a Lewiston fire station to cover the town if another emergency developed.
The cause of the fire is undetermined because the types of debris in the pile make it difficult to pinpoint a cause, said Gerry Pineau, deputy fire chief of fire prevention and investigations.
The plant has been the site of numerous fires over the past few decades, some taking weeks to fully extinguish.
Lewiston firefighters battle a smoky blaze Saturday afternoon at the ReEnergy construction and demolition material recycling facility plant at 38 Alfred Plourde Parkway in Lewiston. The plant has been the site of numerous fires over the past few decades, some taking weeks to fully extinguish. Parts of the city saw smoke as high winds fueled the fire, spreading smoke through neighborhoods miles away. (Russ Dillingham/Staff Photographer)
