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VIENNA (Reuters) - The roof of Austria’s parliament building caught fire on Friday morning but the blaze was quickly extinguished and damage limited, a spokesman for the Vienna fire brigade said.

Members of the public notified the fire brigade around 6.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) that smoke and flames were rising from the roof of the neo-classical building in central Vienna, he said.

“Because we were on site so quickly and with so many forces we were able to extinguish the fire very quickly,” the spokesman said, adding that 17 vehicles had been deployed.

“All post-extinction activities have been completed and staff are able to go back into the building,” he said.

“I would say that the damage is relatively small because the fire was more on the roof than in the roof,” he added.

The parliament building, built in the 19th century, is due to be renovated but the spokesman said it was too soon to say what had caused the fire.