WEST PARIS – Nine towns responded to a fire in a 100-cord log pile Friday afternoon that sent flames 40 feet into the air.

The fire at Midwest Price Co. chip mill on Route 26 broke out just before noon and was extinguished before it consumed more than about a third of the pile. No one was injured.

Barbara Shead, who handles public affairs for the company, said the fire was caused by welding near the log pile. “The area was wetted down,” she said, “but unfortunately there was a spark.”

Fire crews from West Paris and Woodstock were the first to respond, but the call went out to Paris and other towns within minutes. Tankers and fire engines from Norway, Oxford, Bethel, Greenwood, Hebron and Sumner helped battle the blaze.

Fire departments from Hebron, Poland and Mechanic Falls covered the town of Paris while its firefighters were at the chipping mill. Waterford provided coverage for Norway during the fire, and Woodstock covered West Paris.

Paris Deputy Fire Chief Willie Buffington said the fire was contained after about two and a half hours, but crews from Paris, West Paris, and other towns were still on the scene Friday evening doing cleanup and helping with repairs.

Midwest Price produces wood chips for NewPage in Rumford and other paper mills. Shead said logs are continually moved from the three log yards to the holding area to ensure that no more than 100 cords of wood are in the area at any time. A crane is used to move logs from the holding area, where the fire erupted, to the adjoining mill, where they are chipped.

Shead didn’t have an estimate of the value of the lumber that burned, or how much lumber the plant might hold when full. One of the three log yards was empty Friday.