PORTAGE | Firefighters from five departments battled a blaze overnight at U.S. Steel's Midwest plant here.

There were no injuries and no significant damage to the batch and annealing line building where the fire occurred. Production was restarted shortly after firefighters cleared the scene, said U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong.

Portage Assistant Chief Mike Bucy said his department was called to the steel mill about 11:30 p.m. Thursday. As initial crews were on the way, they saw an orange glow and flames coming from the roof of the building.

Armstrong said the fire occurred in an area where work was being done on the roof. It caused damage in a one- to three-foot wide area, approximately 300 feet long, but caused no significant damage to the building.

Fighting the fire was labor intensive, said Bucy, 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 nearby Mittal Steel.

People were working in the building at the time of the fire and were evacuated. Operations in other areas of the steel mill continued during the fire.

In addition to Portage and Mittal, firefighters from South Haven, Ogden Dunes and Burns Harbor were on the scene. Firefighters cleared the scene at about 4:30 a.m. Friday. Fire departments from Union and Liberty townships as well as Porter covered the city during the fire.

Armstrong said the fire is under investigation.