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Morrissette Inc., an automobile detailing and windshield repair business at 223 College Ave. in Waterville, after a fire tore through the building early Sunday. Officials say no injuries were reported. Photo courtesy of the Waterville Fire Department

WATERVILLE — A fire early Sunday destroyed Morrissette Inc., an automobile detailing and windshield repair business on College Avenue in Waterville, officials said.

A passerby called in the fire at 223 College Ave. at 1:28 a.m., according to Chief Jason Frost of the Waterville Fire Department.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation later Sunday, Frost said.

When firefighters arrived, the building was engulfed in flames and heavy smoke, he said.

Morrissette Inc., an automobile detailing and windshield repair business at 223 College Ave. in Waterville, after a fire tore through the building early Sunday. Officials say no injuries were reported. Photo courtesy of the Waterville Fire Department

“The building is very long and L-shaped, so we were seeing the fire in various spots,” Frost said. “The fire was reaching pretty high up and racing against the roof cavity because of the building’s metal roofing, so it kept the fire in there.”

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Crews worked for nearly five hours to extinguish the flames, and were at the scene until about 11 a.m. Sunday, according to Frost.

No one was inside the building at the time of the fire, he said, and no injuries were reported.

The Office of State Fire Marshal was investigating the fire to determine the cause, Frost said, and because of the high value of the building and its contents. Several vehicles were inside the building, as were equipment for vehicle detailing and for a photography business.

Along with firefighters from Waterville, crews from the Fairfield, Oakland, Skowhegan and Winslow fire departments responded to the blaze, as did the Waterville Public Works Department and Kyle King & Sons Trucking and Excavation of Burnham, which helped break down the building’s metal roofing.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the address of Morrissette Inc.

Emily Duggan is a staff writer for the Kennebec Journal. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of New Hampshire, where she was a news editor and staff writer for The New Hampshire....