ROCKLAND — A smell of burning plastic hovering over the south side of Rockland prompted a call to Knox Regional Communications Center, Tuesday, Oct. 29, between 9 and 9:30 p.m. The call happened to come as Rockland’s C Shift was about to investigate reports of flashing lights above Main Street. 

The flashing lights were from a permitted fireworks display at the Samoset, yet the plastic smell remained, and the caller turned out to be nowhere near the source. 

As firefighters searched the grounds of a neighborhood near Lovejoy Street, expecting to find plastic bags burning in a chimney, another call-shift firefighter diverted to a location known to the fire department for a similar smell.

Behind Back Cove Yachts and Composites One, heavy smoke blew from an enclosed compactor filled with regular trash and building materials.

“This [compactor] is usually the culprit when you can smell it that strong,” said Rockland Fire Chief Chris Whytock.

Chief Whytock said that by the time he was en route, he could see the smoke pushing up through the fog. However, he further acknowledged that C Shift was already on scene with lights illuminating, so the smoke he saw from the South School area may have been amplified a bit more. 

Once help arrived, responders from C Shift and the on-call shift had to break locks in order to gain access to the contained fire within, according to Whytock. 

“Obviously something got put in there that started generating some heat, so maybe a rag or two that had something on it,” he said. 

The crew then had to dig out all of the trash and make sure the fire was extinguished, employing their thermal heat camera, and laying the trash to cool. 

Chief Whytock had no concerns about runoff or anything. 

“It’s just trash,” he said. 

According to him, the waste containing chemicals is kept in a separate compactor. 

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com