Portland firefighters contained a fire that started at a laundromat on St. John Street on Tuesday, but the emergency response shut down in-bound lanes of Congress Street.
No one was hurt in the fire, which was reported at 11:54 a.m. at the Union Station Wash & Fold, said Portland Fire Department Division Chief Mike Thompson.
Flames damaged parts of the Union Station Plaza roof, and the extent of the damage is still being determined by firefighters, Thompson said.
Congress Street was shut down between Marston Street and St. John Street to allow firefighters to respond. The road was reopened by 1 p.m.
Code enforcement officers inspected the businesses Tuesday afternoon.
Electricity to the shopping complex was shut off following the fire, but the fire department said power was back on to most businesses by the late afternoon.
Deputy Chief Mike Nixon said the fire started in a commercial clothes dryer and spread through the vent system behind the walls and into the roof. Firefighters used large saws to cut a hole in the roof and in the laundromat walls to fight the fire.
Nixon said a sprinkler head near the origin of the fire helped contain the damage.
Video from the scene is available at News Center Maine WCSH/WLBZ-TV.
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