SITE OF FIRE – The Ergon refinery in Newell. -- Stehanie Ujhelyi

NEWELL — The West Virginia fire marshal is investigating what caused a late-night blaze at the Ergon refinery Wednesday night. Seven fire departments from Ohio and West Virginia responded at 10:26 p.m to the fire at an unoccupied maintenance shop at the Newell refinery.

The building sustained significant interior and exterior damage, according to Tim Steele, Newell fire chief.

Steele said more than 40 firefighters responded to the scene, after 911 dispatch notified his department of the structure fire at the 9995 Ohio River Road structure. The bulk of those firefighters from Chester, Lawrenceville, New Manchester and New Cumberland were used for manpower with Liverpool Township standing by at the Newell station while they battled the blaze and Wellsville bringing its ladder truck along.

Seven total fire apparatus responded along with one sheriff’s vehicle and one ambulance, he added.

They battled the structure fire until almost 5 a.m. Thursday. Steele had no damage estimates yet, as he still has to meet with Ergon staff to evaluate that.

No injuries were reported, and Ergon was operating at full capacity Thursday morning, Steele said.

Kathy Potts, director of marketing communications at Ergon, confirmed that the impacted structure was a workshop, and no bulk chemicals or hydrocarbons were involved in the fire.

“Thankfully, there were no injuries. The damage was contained, and there will be no impact to our operations or to the pending maintenance schedule,” said Emmitte Haddox, Ergon chief executive officer. “We appreciate the prompt response from the fire departments, and our employees who came to our aid last night and their efforts to extinguish the fire.”

EWW, which is a division of Ergon Inc., produces a variety of paraffin process and base oils. Ergon is a group of privately held companies that operate under seven primary business segments, including specialty chemicals, asphalt and emulsions as well as oil and gas.