Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced that the state was turning to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to put out a landfill fire that’s been burning north of Birmingham for more than seven weeks.

“By authorizing the EPA to respond to this fire, we are ensuring it will be addressed in the fastest and safest way possible,” Ivey said in a news release Wednesday.

The release said details on the agreement with EPA would be released shortly Wednesday afternoon.

“It is imperative that this situation be solved and solved right for the sake of the folks in Moody and all people affected by this fire,” Ivey said.

The governor also declared a state of emergency to give local officials more resources to deal with the blaze.

“I am pleased at this next step, and to ensure we are doing everything possible from the state level, I am also issuing a limited state of emergency for St. Clair County to give local officials another layer of support as they deal with this fire,” she said.

The fire has been burning mostly underground at the Environmental Landfill, Inc. about 15 miles northeast of Birmingham since at least Nov. 25.

The landfill is located in unincorporated St. Clair County between the Birmingham suburbs of Moody and Trussville, but smoke from the fire has been reported as far away as Grandview Medical Center on U.S. Highway 280 south of the city.

Residents living near the blaze have reported sometimes debilitating symptoms from smoke exposure such as headaches, nose bleeds, sore throat, difficulty sleeping and a smell that never leaves.

Some have resorted to leaving the area to stay in rental properties or with family, but many can’t afford that option. They have resorted to measures including buying air purifiers for their home and sealing doors and windows with painters’ tape to try to keep the outside air out.

The landfill where the fire is legally only supposed to accept “green waste,” such as fallen trees, brush and leaves. As such, the landfill avoids most rules and regulations that other kinds of landfills have to follow.

However, many residents and even ADEM inspectors have reported seeing unauthorized material at the site, such as tires, household waste, appliances, and more.

ADEM has said it will investigate the situation after the blaze is extinguished to see if there were open burning violations or illegal dumping of unauthorized material at the site.

St. Clair County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon has said the area will likely be a crime scene after the fire is put out, and a class-action lawsuit has been filed against the owners and operators of the landfill on behalf of residents impacted by the smoke.

Portable air quality monitors have been installed all over the areas affected to measure particulate matter in the air, occasionally showing results well above the “hazardous” threshold of the U.S. Air Quality Index.

More sensitive air quality monitors from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been installed at the site, but those samples require laboratory analysis and results have not yet been made available.

*This post will be updated as more details are made available.

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Birmingham-area landfill fire still burns after 6 weeks