Fire crews were still damping down hotspots last night at Tynes Bay Incinerator while private truckers helped in the clearance effort.

A Works and Engineering spokesman said he hoped the charred debris would be cleared by today.

More than 20 trucks have been working around the clock taking loads to the Marsh Folly tip since Sunday ? around half were from private firms.

The spokesman said: ?We hoped it would be cleared by this afternoon but it doesn?t look like it now, it?s look like it may be tomorrow.

?It?s hard to say how many truck loads are left ? perhaps another couple of hundred.

?It has taken us a while, you cannot rush it. It still has fires under it. You see puffs of smoke from underground fires.?

He said the only way to clear the danger of the fire reigniting was to hose down each scoop of rubbish as it was loaded and eventually clear the entire site - even though the trash might eventually come back.

?We are going to keep taking it out until it gets down to ground level. Otherwise all you need is a little bit of heat and it will flare up again.?

Chief Fire Officer, Vincent Hollinsid, said yesterday that one fire truck and three officers remained on the scene to keep an eye on the situation.

The fire, which started sometime before 7 p.m. on Christmas day, took almost three days to put out. It started when a pile of trash some 50 feet high and wide and 100 feet in length ignited. The plumes of smoke forced North Shore residents to flee their homes. Power to the area was also cut as a precautionary measure.

At one stage flames licked up to 80 feet into the air and a crew of some 40 fire fighters and nine fire vehicles battled for more than two days to get the fire under control.

By late yesterday afternoon North Shore Road was once again open to traffic while a solitary fire truck remained.

Residents returned home on Monday when electricity to the area was restored.

One resident, Patrick DeSilva. described it as the worst fire he?d seen in Bermuda in more than 20 years.

Mr. DeSilva was one of the few residents who remained behind to help fire fighters keep the fire from his door.

Mr. DeSilva?s home lies less than 200 yards from where the pile of rubbish burned.

Mr. Hollinsid said he was thankful to all his staff who came in to help when they were off duty and said he realised it was difficult to leave their families on Christmas.

?But they did an excellent job getting that fire under control and I?d like to thank each and every one of them for that sacrifice,? he said.

No buildings were damaged in the fire and no injuries were reported.

Mr. Hollinsid said fire officers were to meet with the Department of Works and Engineering and Tynes Bay Waste Disposal this morning to discuss the situation.

He refused to go into too much detail, but did not rule out the possibility of spontaneous combustion ? a complex phenomenon of combustible material ignited by its own heat of reaction without external heat or other source of ignition.

He added that he would have a better idea of what caused the fire once he met with Tynes Bay staff and found out exactly what material was dumped on the pile of waste which caught fire.

Arson is also not being ruled out.

The Minister of Works and Engineering, Ashfield DeVent could not be reached for comment on why the trash had been allowed to build up.