A Tuesday blaze in a pit beneath Building 57 at the Allvac-Oremet metals plant sent smoke over southwest Albany before firefighters were able to locate the fire and extinquish it.

No one was injured.

The fire was reported at 3:36 p.m. and started after a hydraulic line broke, said Shannon Snippen, Albany deputy marshal with the Albany Fire Department.

Because the fire was underground, it took firefighters until shortly after 4 p.m. to reach it. The pit is "full of grease and oil," Snippen said. "It has electrical equipment in it."

Building 57 is on the north side of 34th Avenue, near Calapooia Street. Traffic continued to move on 34th Avenue during the fire, but the dead-end section of Calapooia was closed off. The building is used as a forge area for titanium and zirconium.

Twenty-five people from the Albany Fire Department went to the scene, and when the fire went to a second alarm, the Corvallis, Tangent and Lebanon fire departments all sent help.

Also, Tangent, Jefferson, Adair and Philomath dispatched firefighters and medics to staff the Albany fire stations and be available for emergency calls.

Allvac-Oremet is a sister company of Wah Chang. Both are subsidiaries of Allegheny Technologies Inc. According to the company's website, it is the world leader in manufacturing rammed-graphite, titanium and zirconium castings.

No estimate of monetary damage or potential impact on production was immediately available. According to company spokesman Jim Denham, the extent of the damage won't be known until probably the end of the week.

"We have to get the electrical up and running first and then we can determine if there was any damage," he said. "At this point we don't think it was anything major."

He said no workers will lose hours as a result of the fire. The facility employs 193 people.