A fire destroyed a building at 9 Mechanic St. early this morning that housed a longtime restaurant in town.

The owners of The Corsican Cafe and Chowder House got an unpleasant phone call from the fire department early this morning letting them know their restaurant was on fire.

“We jumped up as quickly as we could,” said co-owner Robin Wade. “Worst-case scenario.”

Wade owns the building with her brother, Hugh Wade, and her brother in-law, Jay Thomas. She owns the restaurant in the building with her husband. The restaurant was closed for the winter and had just opened up for its 30th year.

“When I closed up last night everything was normal, and now this, so we don’t know,” Wade said, as to what caused the fire.

The restaurant has 10 employees that are now out of work and she said she doesn’t yet know if they will rebuild. The two-and-a-half-story building was insured.

Freeport Fire Chief Darrel Fournier said the building was equipped with a municipal fire alarm connected to the town’s dispatch service. Crews were called to the scene at 3:02 a.m. when the alarm went off and arrived to find heavy fire in the rear of the second floor of the building. Firefighters attempted to enter the building but only made it to the second floor before heat and smoke forced them to exit.

Firefighters then went to the Maine Tourmaline building behind the restaurant and evacuated two apartments in that building with the help of Freeport police.

The structure is a turn of the century building and its balloon construction made the fire a challenge to get out. With three ladder trucks on scene, firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby structures and they had the fire under control within about 45 minutes. Brunswick, Topsham, Pownal and Yarmouth fire departments were all on scene helping Freeport knock down the fire.

Fournier said the state fire marshal’s office has been contacted and will do an investigation.

dmoore@timesrecord.com