Norwich — Firefighters worked for hours to put out an early morning three-alarm fire in a historic building in the Taftville section of Norwich.

The fire was reported about 5:30 a.m. in a large brick building whose address is listed as 3-7 South Second Ave., a part of the historic Ponemah Mill village at the intersection of South Second Avenue and Providence Street, near the west bank of the Shetucket River.

The fire started in the basement and engulfed two vacant floors of the three-story building, Taftville Fire Chief Timothy Jencks said Monday afternoon.

The blaze damaged a part of the building where a convenience store was closed for remodeling but had not yet opened, he said. The state and city fire marshals' offices are investigating the cause of the fire, he said.

Two families who live on the ground floor of the building on the opposite side from the fire evacuated Monday morning and are being assisted by the American Red Cross, Jencks said. No injuries were reported.

The building is owned by Suncrest LLC of New Britain. It was built around 1895 and was once used as a boarding house for mill workers, according to Norwich city historian Dale Plummer.

Its original Victorian-era roof — built in the French Second Empire style to match the Ponemah Mill and the company store directly across Providence Streeet — was destroyed many years ago in a fire, Plummer said.

The replacement roof is still intact after Monday's fire, Jencks said.

Firefighting crews from the Taftville, Occum, Yantic, Norwich, East Great Plains, Laurel Hill, Baltic, Jewett City and Lisbon departments helped fight the fire for several hours, he said.