PORTAGE | Firefighters from five departments battled a blaze overnight at U.S. Steel's Midwest plant here.
Portage Assistant Chief Mike Bucy said his department was called to the steelmill at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. As initial crews were on the way, they saw an orange glow and flames coming from the batch and anealing line building.
Bucy said the fire apparently started in the roof and vents over the building. Fighting the fire was labor intensive, he said, as they had to put crews on the roof to douse the flames. They used approximately 800 feet of hose line to reach the fire along with their tower truck and an aerial from Mittal steel. There were no injuries.
People were working in the building at the time of the fire. The mill was able to restart production on the line once firefighters cleared the scene at 4:30 a.m.
In addition to Portage, firefighters from South Haven, Ogden Dunes, Burns Harbor and Mittal Steel were on the scene. Fire departments from Union and Liberty townships and Porter covered the city during the fire.
Bucy said an investigation into the fire would be up to U.S. Steel.
