AUBURN — Numerous vehicles and equipment were destroyed Sunday evening in a fire on Hackett Road which leveled a six-bay Maine Turnpike Authority maintenance garage, officials said.

According to an MTA spokesperson and a Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson, first responders were sent to the 393 Hackett Road complex around 5:55 p.m. where they were met with a maintenance building fully engulfed in flames.

The structure and its contents were a total loss, Shannon Moss, public safety spokesperson, said. MTA spokesperson Erin Courtney said equipment included four plow trucks, a traffic control truck, loader, box truck, pickup truck and countless tools and equipment.

In December 2021, a fire that broke out at the Maine Turnpike Authority property in Litchfield destroyed a wooden eight-bay garage and the vehicles stored inside it, causing millions of dollars in damages.

Courtney said no one was in or around the Auburn building, just off the Maine Turnpike, when the fire broke out Sunday evening, and the complex’s main building was not damaged.

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The Hackett Road maintenance complex is responsible for turnpike snowplowing from the New Gloucester tollbooth to Exit 86 in Sabattus.

Plow drivers were confident Sunday night that the incident would not affect their ability to ensure their routes would be completed, Courtney said. However, she did not have any reports by midmorning Monday if routes were delayed or affected. The main building also houses four other plow trucks, she said.

Courtney said 10 employees work out of the building, which was a total loss.

Moss said the Office of State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the blaze.

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