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Firefighters extinguished a large fire Monday evening at the Aviation — a University of Cincinnati affiliate — in Evendale.

Evendale fire fighters arrived on the scene at 4:43 p.m., minutes after the fire was called in. The fire was under control in about 30 minutes, said Evendale Fire Chief Rick Cruse.

“With the building configuration and location, it was easy to access and there was no problem whatsoever,” Cruse said.

No other buildings or property were damaged in the fire and all GE employees were accounted for unharmed, said Rick Kennedy, spokesman for GE Aviation.

Nine other fire departments showed up to aid the battle, but only four or five were actually used and the rest were sent home, Cruse said.

Cruse credited the GE staff of firefighters, engineers and security personnel who made the building accessible and turned off the utilities immediately following the explosion.

“They were on top of everything,” Cruse said.

The fire started after an explosion in the building that stores large compressors and machinery used for testing aviation parts.

Luckily no one was inside the building at the time of the explosion.

Contrary to previous reports, the explosion occurred in the 401A building, not the 300 building.

The 401A building suffered severe structural damage — two of the concrete walls were blown out in the explosion and the roof was destroyed, Kennedy said.

At this point it’s impossible to know what the cause of the explosion was or what the cost of the incident will be, Kennedy and Cruse said.

“It’s going to depend on what the findings are to know how long it will actually take to nail down the cause,” Cruse said.

Much of the six million-square-foot plant has been under construction over the past year, including renovations of old buildings — some of which date back to the 1950s.

GE Aviation is a regional partner of UC. Earlier this year the two teamed up to begin developing a new research institute for the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

GE Aviation has already committed $45 million in research funding for UC students to study next-generation jet engines side-by-side with veteran researchers.

Ground for the new research institute has not been broken yet and is not planned to be built in the area where the explosion occurred, Kennedy said.