An early-morning fire caused about $400,000 worth of damage to a popular downtown Lancaster pub Thursday.

The three-alarm blaze at Lancaster Dispensing Company, 33-35 N. Market St., heavily damaged the kitchen and part of the wooden bar, and caused extensive smoke damage throughout the 4½-story brick structure adjacent to Lancaster Central Market.

"The first floor is completely gutted," city fire Battalion Chief Ken Barton said of the restaurant portion of the building.

City fire marshal Lt. Carl Everhart said Thursday evening the cause of the fire was undetermined.

Despite the loss, restaurant co-owner Bradley DeForge said the fire could have been much worse.

"Nobody was hurt. Things can be replaced," he said.

"Dip Co.," as it's affectionately known by many, opened in 1978 and is co-owned by DeForge and Judy Ross. It could be months before they reopen, he said.

"We've been here for 40 years," DeForge said. "We'll be back better than ever."

The fire was discovered by an employee around 6 a.m. Everhart said the man smelled something burning outside, then saw a puff of smoke from a fan above a kitchen entrance door.

The employee opened the exterior door and went inside. He then opened a door to the kitchen, saw flames and called 911, according to Everhart.

The fire appeared to have started just beyond the interior door in what Everhart believed to be a prep area.

“There was no cooking equipment or stove-top issue involved,” he said.

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Investigators are still piecing some things together but Everhart said they may never know exactly what caused the fire.

“I can say it wasn’t incindiary and is accidental,” he added.

Everhart said insurance adjusters may bring in their own investigators to continue examining the blaze.

The building is owned by Ed and Andriana Drogaris and also houses the Drogaris Companies land development firm.

Capt. Todd Hutchinson says the cause of the fire at Lancaster Dispensing Co. is unknown at this time. Crews will be on scene for 2-3 hours. pic.twitter.com/Ym49g7AypW — Lindsey Blest (@LindseyBlestLNP) September 28, 2017

Crews also worked to ventilate the neighboring Trust Performing Arts Center, which had a lot of smoke inside, Barton said. The opening performance of the center's season, CHALACA, was set to go on as planned Thursday evening, according to spokeswoman Jessica Pavelko.

Jeff Haupt had just parked his car in a nearby lot on his way to construction work at the Griest Building when he said he saw flames coming from the restaurant. He said firefighters were beginning to arrive around 6:15 a.m.

No one was inside when the fire broke out. The last restaurant employees had left the building about three hours before the blaze was discovered.

Crews battling fire at Lancaster Dispensing Co. pic.twitter.com/KsijpsxvJf — Ryan Mellon (@RyanMellonLNP) September 28, 2017