Topsham fire officials were meeting with investigators from the state Fire Marshal’s Office on Tuesday to examine the cause of the massive fire at a scrap metal recycling business on Monday that took nearly 10 hours to bring under control.

The flames were not fully extinguished until just before 4 a.m. Tuesday, according to Deputy Fire Chief Michael Labbe.

The fire at Grimmel Industries at 80 Pejepscot Village was reported at 5:57 p.m. Monday.

Fire crews had trouble finding water to fight the fire, and had to truck in water from elsewhere, Labbe said.

One firefighter was taken to a local hospital to be checked out for apparent heat exhaustion, Labbe said.

A person who answered the phone at the scrap metal company declined to comment, and said an owner of the business, Gary Grimmel, was in Florida and could not be reached Tuesday.


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