LEWISTON — An early-morning fire damaged part of a two-and-a-half-story, three-unit apartment building at 168 Bartlett St. on Friday, displacing as many as seven people.

No one was hurt in the fire, which started just before 2 a.m, Lewiston fire Chief Paul LeClair said.

The fire began and ended in a second-floor bedroom, LeClair said. The building is situated behind another apartment house at 166 Bartlett St.

The fire’s cause is “undetermined,” he said.

When firefighters arrived at the scene Friday morning, fire could be seen through a second-floor window. Smoke alarms were working, and everyone had already moved outside.

“The fire was contained to the interior of the building,” he said. “We were able to knock the fire down fairly quickly.”

Though direct fire damage was limited to the second-story bedroom, smoke and water damaged other areas of the building.

There was no fire department estimate Friday of the fire’s total damage.

“Any time there is fire damage to one portion of a building like that, it certainly runs up into the tens of thousands of dollars,” LeClair said. “It gets very expensive quickly.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com