CAMDEN — An early morning fire caused an estimated $30,000 to $40,000 in damage to a local hide tanning factory, according to the company’s president.

More than 50 employees of Apollo Tanning Ltd. on Washington Street were evacuated in the blaze, which started at approximately 6:20 a.m., but no one was hurt in the fire.

According to Wayne Clark, assistant chief of the Camden Fire Department, the cause of the fire is unknown.

Roger Droukas, president of the leather factory, said the fire started in a finish room where workers treat cow and pigskin hides with a water seal. Workers attempted to extinguish the blaze with a fire extinguisher but called 911 when it continued to grow.

Droukas said although the fire resulted in smoke damage to some hides, the most extensive damage occurred when flames were sucked into the factory’s dust-collecting system, which removes particles from the air and deposits them into a holding receptacle outside the building. The system’s ducts and receptacle were destroyed.

Droukas said he also did not know yet how the fire started. Company employees, who regularly start their shifts at 6 a.m., were sent out into the cold after flames triggered the factory’s sprinkler system. Three engines and a ladder truck arrived on the scene, and firefighters extinguished the blaze within an hour, Wayne said.