SAN JOSE — A fire in a historic, 12-story Art Deco apartment tower in downtown San Jose resulted in up to 60 residents being displaced because of water damage early Sunday, fire officials said.

According to San Jose fire Capt. Mitchell Matlow, a faulty ceiling light was the source of the blaze that broke out about 4:20 a.m. in the ninth-floor elevator lobby of the Vintage Tower residential building at 235 E. Santa Clara St., across the street from City Hall.

“The fire was put out very quickly through a combination of hose and sprinkler, but there was a great deal of water damage,” Matlow said. “It was kept to a little fire because of the sprinkler. Because the sprinkler did its job, nobody inside got injured, and if the fire continued it could have taken down the entire building.”

Jose Eatricio, a building supervisor at the site, said the water damage extended from the ninth floor “down to the basement.”

“We have people over there now with machines to dry everything out,” Eatricio said. “We’ll go from there.”

Matlow said the Red Cross is helping to shelter displaced residents and that a contractor estimated it would take about a week before they could move back in.

Matlow said that because they had to cut power to the building, the elevators were not working and fire crews returned to the scene to help residents recover some of their most needed possessions.

“Typically we’d go inside to get medicine and not typically help retrieve other possessions, but this involved special circumstances,” Matlow said. “Some of the residents had electric wheelchairs that they needed to get out.”

He said two engines and a truck company were there for 2﻿1/2 hours removing the belongings. No residents were injured, but one firefighter suffered an unspecified injury while helping to retrieve items.

A property manager said Sunday that she did not have further information about the state of the building.

San Jose city documents say that the tower has storefronts at ground level with 59 affordable studio and one-bedroom housing units above. It was built as a medical and dental building in 1928 and converted to apartments and commercial space in 1988. A taqueria on the bottom floor was open for business Sunday evening.

According to the Vintage Tower website, the “distinguished 12-story historic landmark has been completely remodeled to combine classic Art Deco architecture with fashionable amenities.”

Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.