LEDYARD — Several local fire departments on Wednesday battled a fire inside the Americas Styrenics facility off of Route 12 in Ledyard.

Smoke on Wednesday afternoon could be seen coming from a structure within the plant, which is fenced off and closed to public access. The fire, at 1761 Route 12 in the Gales Ferry section of town, was reported at 2:22 p.m. with the Gales Ferry Volunteer Fire Company and mutual aid from nine other departments responding. A Facebook post by the Gales Ferry department said the fire broke out in a building "under construction."

According to Ledyard police, the fire was reported inside a "confined pit" where approximately 1,000 pounds of plastic material caught fire. Police said the fire was contained by 4:45 p.m. and state environmental officials were on the scene evaluating air quality. No evacuation of the area was ordered and Route 12 was open to traffic, police said. Company officials said the fire began during "maintenance of an out-of-service storage tank."

There were no injuries.

The main entrance to the facility is directly across the street on Route 12 from the Gales Ferry fire department. The former Dow Chemical facility became part of plastics manufacturer Americas Styrenics — a joint venture of Dow and Chevron Phillips Chemical — in 2008.

No specific cause for the fire was immediately available.