FORWARD TWP — Authorities say BASF officials extinguished a fire that erupted Wednesday night inside a building at the company’s chemical facility on Mars-Evans City Road.

Several local fire departments were deployed shortly after 8:40 p.m. but BASF Corp.’s on-site emergency response team handled the blaze.

An employee suffered minor burns that did not require medical treatment, said Benjamin Rusch, a media relations official at the company headquarters in Florham Park, N.J.

The company and emergency officials reported there was no chemical release as a result of the fire.

The fire posed no risk to the community at any point, said Steve Bicehouse, director of Butler County emergency services.

“Nothing was deemed a health hazard,” he said.

Bicehouse, who was at the plant in service as fire chief for the Evans City Volunteer Fire Company, noted that his assessment followed discussion with Scott Hoffman, the county’s hazardous materials specialist.

Dennis Kimmel, BASF’s emergency response coordinator, declined to comment this morning. He referred questions to Debra Mastrostefano, an engineering manager and member of the crisis management team at the company.

Mastrostefano did not immediately return a telephone call.

A 911 caller reported the fire and described seeing “flames from one of the buildings in the middle (of the facility),” according to a dispatcher.

Along with the Evans City VFD, firefighters from the Harmony Fire District, Adams Area Fire District and Callery were sent to the plant.

The volunteer fire crews remained in the parking lot while the BASF response team battled the blaze internally, authorities said.

“There was definitely something on fire,” said Neal Nanna, chief of the Harmony Fire District. “Flames were visible on the roof line.

The fire, he said, was coming from a large metal pole building, one of several that sits on the vast BASF complex.

Rusch did not immediately know what the building is used for, but he acknowledged that flammable solvents are processed there He declined to elaborate.

“At the moment,” Rusch said this morning, “we believe the fire occurred when the solvent was released by an emergency vent system.”

The fire was extinguished in less than two hours, he said.

While staged at the company during the fire, Bicehouse kept in contact with Kimmel, who also is the assistant commander of the county’s HazMat Team.

The volunteer fire crews got the word to clear out at 10:10 p.m.

Bicehouse, who said he did not know what kind of chemicals were stored at the facility, said Kimmel was to get

According to the company’s website, there are four plants at the facility. Among the chemicals there are boron compounds used in the manufacturing process of pharmaceuticals for various therapies such as hypertension, high cholesterol and depression.

Other chemicals include potassium metal and sodium-potassium alloy, ultimately used in other industries such as detergents and agrochemicals; and potassium superoxide used mainly as an oxygen source in personal safety equipment such as self-contained breathing apparatuses.