Westbrook firefighters spent hours early Wednesday morning putting out a fire in three trailers full of compacted trash.

Capt. Marc Theriault said the fire department was called to the Pine Tree Waste trash and recycling facility off County Road just after midnight. The three trailers were fully engulfed with fire when crews arrived on scene.

While firefighters were able to knock down the flames pretty quickly, a tedious process of ensuring it was out followed, Theriault said.

“We had the folks onsite use an excavator to break everything open so we could keep extinguishing it,” he said. “As you would break it open, more material would spill out and there was more fire.”

Theriault said the fire was likely caused by something that was smoldering within the compacted waste. Security footage from the facility confirmed there was no human interference, he said.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection was notified because of the type of material that burned.

No one was injured. Theriault said crews cleared the scene around 6:30 a.m.

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