Fire damages Ray's Trash Service building, seven recycling trucks

Flames engulf a section of the Ray's Trash Service property along the south side of U.S. 40, west of Cartersburg Road, near Plainfield in Hendricks County. (Courtesy photo Plainfield Fire District)

CLAYTON -- Seven recycling trucks were destroyed and an estimated $500,000 damage incurred in a fire early Tuesday at Ray's Trash Service on U.S. 40, west of Cartersburg Road in Hendricks County.

Investigators are trying determine what caused the fire that sent the first fire units to the scene -- at 3859 U.S. 40 -- about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after an employee spotted one of the trucks on fire.

In all, eight recycling trucks reportedly caught fire and seven were considered a total loss.

Trash service employees were able to move other trucks out of harm's way while nine fire departments from Hendricks and Morgan counties fought the blaze.

No one was injured in the fire. Arson investigators were called to the scene, standard procedure for fire as large as this one. Cause of the fire remained undetermined Tuesday.

Ray's owner Donnie Matthews said trash service will continue as scheduled.

Both sides of U.S. 40 were closed to traffic during the height of the fire. The highway reportedly reopened between 5:30 and 6 a.m.