The fire at the scrap metal recycling plant, at the site of the former Pejepscot paper mill on the Androscoggin River, was reported shortly before 6 p.m., and by 8 p.m. had drawn crews from nearly 10 communities including Topsham, Brunswick, Lisbon, Freeport and Bath.
Grimmel Industries operates a number of scrap metal recycling plants.
The Topsham site has been plagued with fires. A 1995 fire that caused more than $1 million in damage was determined to be arson.
A July 2004 inferno drew firefighters from 17 departments to a three-alarm fire that destroyed several buildings. Investigators said the flames were so hot that the cause could not be determined, according to the Sun Journal.
And in September 2009, a four-alarm fire at the plant marked the fifth blaze at Grimmel’s Topsham facility in 14 years, The Forecaster reported.
Most recently, the cause of a two-alarm blaze in July 2013 remained undetermined.