KENNEBUNK — A Friday morning fire that was deemed accidental by the state Fire Marshal’s Office damaged two businesses on Route 9 in Kennebunk.

Kennebunk Fire Chief Jeff Rowe said crews were dispatched to the area of Coopers Corner at about 6:15 a.m., after a school bus driver and several others reported seeing smoke in the air. The smoke “permeated the whole neighborhood,” said Rowe, so firefighters had to check several buildings before determining the source: a fire at 17 Western Ave., also known as Route 9.

Rowe said the blaze was in a two-story building, which houses two businesses on the first floor – The Sugar Shack candy shop and PJ’s Unique Peek Boutique, a women’s clothing store – and apartments on the second floor. A separate building on the same property, which houses Ryan’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, was not affected by the fire, he said.

After getting the fire under control, firefighters had to do a lot of “digging,” according to Rowe, to extinguish concealed areas, such as in between walls. “We had to do a lot of tearing of walls and ceilings,” he said, mainly in The Sugar Shack.

Rowe said nobody was in the building at the time of the fire, and the secondstory apartments are rented only during the summer. The building sustained damage on both floors and in the basement, he said.

Kennebunk police said in a Facebook post Friday morning that a portion of Route 9 was closed while firefighters battled the blaze.

Rowe said the Fire Marshal’s Office believes the fire was accidental, starting near heating equipment in the basement of the building.

The Christmas tree tour – part of Kennebunkport’s annual, nationally acclaimed Prelude Christmas festival, which began this weekend – was originally scheduled to start at 10 a.m. today at The Sugar Shack. But the event will now begin at 9 a.m. at the Washington Hose Fire Company, at 159 Port Road in Kennebunk.

Members of the fire company agreed to host the event after Friday’s fire damaged The Sugar Shack, said Rowe.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].