BATH — “Misplaced smoking materials” ignited in the third story of a Front Street building Thursday afternoon, trapping residents of some apartments until Bath firefighters could snuff the flames and evacuate the four-story wooden structure.

When the Bath engines responded at about 1 p.m., the fire in the third-story hallway and west wall area of 108 Front St., home of The Black Barnacle and Bohemian Rose on the first floor, blocked the fire escape, Bath Fire Chief Steve Hinds said this morning.

“The building was fully occupied — every room on the fourth floor had people in it,” Hinds said. “We were extremely busy for the first 10 minutes. We had to knock the fire down so people could get down from the fourth floor. They couldn’t get down the fire escape because the fire was blowing out through the fire escape and stairway.”

Crews knocked down the fire in 15 to 20 minutes, Hinds said, but stayed on the scene for about two-and-a-half hours to tear down walls and ceilings in the old brick and wooden building to make sure no hot spots remained.

He estimated damage to the building at $30,000 to $40,000, with fire damage confined to the third floor, heavy smoke damage on the third and fourth, and “very minor” smoke damage on the first and second floors.

No injuries were reported.

“We got a good quick stop by the crew,” Hinds said, adding that with so many wooden structures connected, the outcome could have been far worse.

Front Street was closed for approximately two hours while fire crews extinguished the blaze and secured the scene.

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