THOMASTON — A carpenter working at the Greenfield Apartments complex on Brooklyn Heights Road in Thomaston late Friday morning called 911 when he looked out a window and saw smoke coming from the laundry and mail room building.

Thomaston Fire Chief Michael Leo said the 30 by 30-foot building sat between two apartment buildings, separate from the complex. The Thomaston Fire Department was called out around 10:42 a.m.

“When we got there fire was coming out of the back of the building and had extended up into the attic,” said Leo.

Ten Thomaston firefighters arrived on scene with two engines, the town’s ladder truck and a utility vehicle to battle the blaze.

Leo said it took about 10-15 minutes to knock down the fire, and another 20 minutes or so to stop the fire in the attic before they could begin overhaul.

“The guys were spent so I called in Rockland to help with the overhaul,” said Leo. He said that four Rockland firefighters responded with a city engine. Also at the scene standing by was a Thomaston ambulance, but there were no injuries.

Leo said that the last person inside the building put a load of clothes in the machines about 30 minutes before the fire was reported. Nobody was inside at that time either.

An investigator with the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office was called to help determine the cause of the fire, and Leo said it was determined that cardboard boxes had been piled too close to a dryer vent.

“The boxes heated up and eventually caught fire,” said Leo.

The fire remained outside the building and in the attic, with the contents inside the building sustaining water and smoke damage only. Leo estimated the damages to the building, which would require a new roof, to be about $25,000. An adjacent 12-foot-square outbuilding had it’s siding damaged in the fire as well.

Leo said they were finally able to clear the scene around 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.