LEWISTON – A late-night fire tore through three buildings Tuesday in the vacant space above the former Marco’s Restaurant.

Immediately after the fire was reported about 10:15 p.m., police began searching for three teenagers seen running from the back of the building where the fire started.

The downtown area was blanketed with thick, gray smoke that poured from the second, third and fourth floors above the former Marco’s at 167 Lisbon St. At least one person, a bystander, was being examined for smoke inhalation an hour after the fire began. The three buildings were empty, and no other injuries were immediately reported.

The late-night blaze was reminiscent of a similar fire that destroyed the popular restaurant in July 2004. The Tuesday night fire began with smoke billowing from boarded windows and soon filled the building.

“I was walking down the street, and I smelled smoke and then saw it,” said Brian Morin, who first reported the blaze. “There was a lot of smoke, and there was no one around. I ran home and called 911.”

A half-hour after firefighters began hacking into the building to get at the fire, flames began shooting from both glass and boarded windows. By 11:15 p.m., an orange glow from the fire lit up the sky, visible as far away as outer Lisbon Street.

Firefighters used chain saws to cut through boarded windows and other parts of the building. They worked from the ground and from ladders hoisted up to the top floors, on Lisbon Street, Pine Street and in the alley behind the burning building.

From Lisbon Street, flames could be seen rolling from windows, devouring a staircase on the first floor, and shooting from the roof.

Police blocked off sections of Lisbon Street as well as Canal Street as more fire crews arrived from other towns, including Auburn, Lisbon and Topsham.

By 11:30 p.m., flames were still shooting high into the air above the burning building, and firefighters expected the charred roof to collapse. Businesses along that stretch of Lisbon Street were starting to fill with smoke, including FISC, the former Bill Davis Luncheonette and the Lewiston Public Library.

Lewiston fire investigator Paul Ouellette was at the scene, and police detectives were being called to assist him.

A man and women parked at the Canal Street garage told police they had seen three young men dashing from the building shortly before smoke began to pour from it. The three were described as teenagers wearing zipped-up sweatshirts with hoods and baggy pants.

Police were searching for those teens as well as other possible witnesses later Tuesday night. When the first fire crews arrived at the scene, Lisbon Street was mostly empty. Within 20 minutes, dozens of people showed up to watch the fire burn. By 11 p.m., well over a hundred people crowded street corners to see the blaze.

The fire tore through the walls and ceilings in the mostly empty space above the former Marco’s and the former International House. Both businesses closed after the blaze in 2004 that ripped through the same space and dumped debris down onto the businesses.

The damage from the fire in 2004 was estimated nearly a half-million dollars, and Marco’s never returned to its space, choosing instead to relocate to the Fairgrounds on outer Main Street.

A third building, identified as 149 and 155 Lisbon St. and owned by The Tim Corp. on the city’s GIS mapping site on the World Wide Web, was vacanat and also burned.

Greeley Capitall LLC, with an Auburn post office box, is listed as the owner of the adjacent five-story former International House, also known as the Kora building, at 159 and 163 Lisbon St., according to the city Web site.

Greeley is also listed as the owner of the Marco’s building, listed as 167 and 177 Lisbon St.

Fire crews expected to be battling the fire into this morning. Police said they did not yet know if parts of Lisbon Street would remain closed to traffic.

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