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Water from firefighters’ hoses sheets down the roof of Beacon Marine Basin, 211 East Main St., as first responders keep other boats out of the area Thursday morning. Firefighters had knocked the fire at the building down by 10 a.m.

Firefighters head for a break while crews battle a fire Thursday morning at Beacon Marine Basin, 211 East Main St.

Firefighters search for hot spots after a fire at the iconic and rambling Beacon Marine Basin building at 211 E. Main St. on Thursday morning.

Water from firefighters’ hoses sheets down the roof of Beacon Marine Basin, 211 East Main St., as first responders keep other boats out of the area Thursday morning. Firefighters had knocked the fire at the building down by 10 a.m.

Firefighters head for a break while crews battle a fire Thursday morning at Beacon Marine Basin, 211 East Main St.

Firefighters search for hot spots after a fire at the iconic and rambling Beacon Marine Basin building at 211 E. Main St. on Thursday morning.

Firefighters were kept busy Thursday morning extinguishing the remnants of a three-alarm fire that broke out in the Beacon Marine Basin Inc. building at 211 East Main St. just after 7 a.m.

No residents or firefighters were injured, fire Assistant Chief Bob Rivas said.

The fire forced the evacuation of residents who were in the building at the time of the fire. Firefighters had to help one person get out safely.

Everyone was accounted for, Rivas said.

Rivas said he spoke with the property owner who told him there are 15 units in the building with 15 people living in them. He said at least five would not be able to return to their units and crews were trying to determine the extent of the damage in the others.

Representatives of the American Red Cross were on scene assisting the residents.

The iconic wooden mill-style building, which sits on pilings, has a crooked facade as it follows East Main Street with docks alongside it in the harbor.

Rivas said the Gloucester Fire Department is investigating the cause along with the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

“We are still digging around looking from some hot spots,” Rivas said at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, “but we think we have it fairly well under control.” Crews were using thermal imaging cameras to find the hot spots, he said.

Todd Cavanaugh, who lives in the building, said he woke up to a “beautiful day” and realized an alarm was going off. He described his apartment as being in the middle of the building on the top floor.

“I heard the alarm. I opened the hallway door and I saw smoke coming up the stairs. I went, ‘That’s not good,’” Cavanaugh said. “So I shut the door, obviously. I went out the back slider on my deck and saw the smoke coming up the other side. At the same time my neighbor said ‘Hey, man, we got to get out of here.’ and I grabbed what I could, you know, which is my wallet and my car keys and left.”

He said the smoke alarms worked great “and that’s all we needed at the time.”

Crews were first dispatched at 7:07 a.m. for a report of smoke in the basement and the first engines arrived two minutes later.

“They attacked the fire from the C-side of the building,” Rivas said. “Heavy smoke, and they encountered heavy fire in the upstairs units.”

A second alarm was struck at 7:37 a.m. and a third at 7:55 a.m. Rivas said the building was extensively damaged where the fire was located “but the rest of the building doesn’t look too bad.”

The fire was knocked down around 9:20 a.m.

Smoke could be seen coming from the flat roof section of the building that joins the front section along East Main Street with the rest of the building that juts out into the harbor.

“It’s crawling around through all kinds of different voids and areas of the building,” Rivas said of the fire and smoke. “We put out one spot and it goes to the next spot, so it was a tough battle and the crews did a great job.”

Both Rivas and Mayor Greg Verga said they have long had concerns about the building.

Rivas said what elevated the fire to the three alarms was “We’ve been through there a hundred times on inspections and we’ve always feared that building, so we thought it was safe to go with a third alarm at that point.”

The rambling building, with a gross area of 37,000 square feet, was built about 1880 and is assessed at more than $1.5 million, according to city records.

“When I heard there was the fire, then I heard the location, I pretty much panicked,” Verga said.

“We know the history of the building and where it’s situated, it could have been a lot worse, so obviously when I got to the scene and saw that it was not at all as bad as it could have been, it was a relief.”

Gloucester Engines 1, 2, 3 and 4, Ladder 1, Car 3, Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 responded to the scene along with companies from Essex, Hamilton, Manchester and Rockport, as well as Rehab 5. Beverly, Rockport, Danvers and Manchester provided station coverage.

The Beverly Fire Department Marine Unit also responded, along with the Gloucester Police boat, the Harbormaster, Inspectional Services and Beauport Ambulance.

Rivas credited the out-of-town crews for their help in putting out the fire alongside Gloucester crews.

“These guys knocked it down really fast,” Verga said of the fire crews.

“Just hats off to them because they know what they are doing.”

Rivas said the Police Department’s boat with a water pump was instrumental in helping to fight the fire from the harbor. The boat was able to spray water on the roof of the section of the building that juts out over the water.

“They were on scene within probably 15 minutes with water flowing which helped us tremendously,” Rivas said.

Police closed a stretch of East Main Street for a time and detoured traffic around the fire scene.

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