DURHAM - The fire at the Durham Yard Waste Compost Facility -- the cause of respiratory problems among frustrated neighbors as it burned for 13 days -- was extinguished Saturday.

Crews used a foam fire suppressant called Pyrocool to smother the blaze more than a week earlier than Durham City Manager Patrick Baker had anticipated.

"This is better than I could have hoped for, and I can think of no better news to share with citizens who live in the area where the fire was burning," Baker said in a statement. "I'm sure they are as happy about this as I am."

Standing outside her Dublin Street home near the compost facility, Laney Gwendolyn was happy but far from ecstatic.

The 51-year-old said she endured headaches and a scratchy throat for nearly two weeks.

"I'm glad they put it out," said Gwendolyn, who added that the smell was like someone burning trash. "It's been bad."

The yard waste landfill off East Club Boulevard spontaneously combusted Sept. 10. Officials have estimated the cost of extinguishing the blaze at $117,000, though Baker said Saturday that figure could come down because the fire was snuffed more quickly than expected.

The landfill has operated without a state permit for more than two years. City officials have a temporary permit to operate the facility that expires in December.

Baker said in an interview Saturday that officials hope they can sell more of the compost stored on site. Reducing the size of the piles of yard waste reduces the likelihood of fire, Baker said.

One option is bagging the compost to sell it to individuals, rather than selling it just by the truckload to commercial outfits.

Baker also said a site engineer will be hired soon to evaluate the landfill and look for improvements.

Those and other efforts, Baker hopes, will be enough for the state to reissue a permit.

This is the second time in less than three years that the waste facility burned. A blaze in February 2004 burned for nine days before it was smothered in 1,200 cubic yards of dirt.

Jackie Brown, president of the North East Neighborhood Association and who lives near the plant, said the city should have learned its lesson then.

"If they'd been doing their jobs, this never would have happened," she said.

Her reaction to the extinguished fire?

"Well, it's about time," she said when reached at the beach, where she had gone to escape the fumes that had prompted a doctor to put her on an inhaler.

"They put the one at the World Trade Center out quicker than they did this one."

Baker said fire is always a risk in compost.

"You truly are managing a fire all the time," he said. "If left to its natural state, it will go to combustion."

He said the contractor responsible for mulching and dispersing the waste had been replaced just weeks before the fire. The contractor had kept piles too large and wasn't mulching material as it came in, Baker said.

Brown said the city needs to do whatever it takes to prevent another repeat.

"I'm happy for the people in the neighborhood, I'm happy for the animals," she said.

"I hope the birds come back to my bird feeder. And I just hope that we don't ever, ever have to go through this again. There's no excuse for it."