A fire inside a Vermont Street building on Sunday afternoon damaged at least two businesses.

One Lawrence man who was working in a photography studio on the second floor escaped as smoke rose from the first floor.

“At first I thought it was just leaves burning. Then it got stronger, and you could see smoke coming out of the floor,” said Dan Ray, manager of PTI Studios at Eighth and Vermont streets.

No one was injured in the blaze, said interim fire chief Mark Bradford of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical, and the outside of the structure appeared undamaged.

Firefighters were beginning their investigation about 4:30 p.m., and the cause of the fire was unknown Sunday evening, Bradford said.

The damaged building is a large red brick two-story structure at the southwest corner of Eighth and Vermont streets, across the street from Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical’s Station No. 1.

Firefighters battle a building fire on the corner of Eighth and Vermont streets. The Sunday afternoon fire damaged at least two businesses in the building.

Its proximity to the fire station resulted in a quick response just after 2 p.m., as some people passing by alerted firefighters about heavy smoke coming from the building, Bradford said.

A large portion of the building’s two stories is vacant, he said.

While smoke poured through the building’s windows, flames inside the building reached near the roof’s rafters, Bradford said.

“I’d say there is moderate damage,” he said. “The businesses down here below have significant damage.”

Firefighters entered the building through a door next to the Mystic Realm, a metaphysical shop at 203 W. Eighth St. Its proprietor is Kerry Johnson.

Next door, Russ Bixby’s wife runs the 9th Path, 802 Vt., which opened in 2001. The shop sells jewelry and Eastern religious items, among other things, he said.

Bixby lives in Leavenworth County and does maintenance work for the two shops on the first floor. Neither was open Sunday, but they had planned to do some painting and other work. The building’s owners were also doing some construction on other parts of the building, he said.

“I’d imagine we’ll have a high bill dry-cleaning-wise,” Bixby said.

• 6News video: Downtown businesses damaged by fire (10-09-05)

He also said he thought the building was built in the 1870s, and firefighters told him the fire started in a hallway. No candles were lit inside the two shops, he said.

City Manager Mike Wildgen said Thomas Fritzel owns the building. Fritzel did not immediately return phone messages Sunday evening.

Sunday’s fire added to an already busy past three days for firefighters after Friday morning’s severe blaze at the Boardwalk Apartments in western Lawrence.

“This is what we are trained for. We are trained to go into fire combat,” said Bradford, the interim fire chief. “When it comes to back-to-back major incidents, obviously there is a fatigue factor.”

Some of the 25 firefighters working on Sunday also responded to Friday’s fire, but the department rotates its personnel as much as possible, Bradford said.

“It is taxing both mentally and physically, but we try and do the best we can,” he said.