LEWISTON – Roughly an hour after an elderly man ran from his smoke-filled house at 19 Pettingill St., the building was engulfed in flames late Thursday morning.

No formal cause was given later Thursday, but officials said it appeared to have started in the basement and caused “extensive damage” to the three-story, turn-of-the-century building.

The 86-year-old homeowner, Romeo Huppe, reportedly knocked on the door of his neighbor’s house then ran down the street. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a facial abrasion suffered during his escape. He was later released from the hospital, fire officials said.

He reportedly lived alone; his wife died last year.

The fire was reported around 9:30 a.m. Wisps of light smoke wafted from windows and a door of the 2½-story house. Witnesses say Huppe left the building and went next door for help. That neighbor, Wayne Mitchell of 27 Pettingill St., said he got to the door in time to see the man running down the street.

Mitchell said he heard nothing like an explosion coming from the house.

“Just smoke, a whole lot of smoke,” he said.

It was the second house fire of the morning in Lewiston. A blaze about 3 a.m. destroyed much of a Dow Avenue home. The owner of that house, Frederick Ream, escaped without injury.

After firefighters had been on the scene of the Pettingill Street fire for roughly an hour, a cloud of black smoke shot out of the rear window of the building’s first floor, followed by orange flames.

“Go ahead, hit it,” the scene’s incident commander shouted to two firefighters standing nearby.

One of the firefighters hefted an ax and chopped at the window, sending out more plumes of black smoke.

Police began clearing the sidewalks across the street of spectators as more black smoke mixed with flames rolled out the window.

A ladder truck pulled into the driveway facing the east window, then telescoped its ladder over the roof. A firefighter perched on top of the tower cut a hole in the roof with a chain saw.

A cloud of black smoke billowed out of the hole. The firefighter began poking in the hole with a long pole tipped with a hook. Flames suddenly leapt from the smoke, shooting a dozen feet in the air into the blue skies. The firefighter signaled a thumbs-up and the ladder rose out of reach of the flames.

On the ground, firefighters trained a stream of water on the hole. Jets of water from the ladder’s cannon scattered black debris, including roof shingles, into the air. A tower truck parked on the street sent two Auburn firefighters into the air to battle the blaze from the street side.

Flames could be seen on all floors in addition to the roof, apparently climbing the walls from the basement in the older building whose construction likely had no fire stops between floors. Flames licked the corners of the eaves.

A half-dozen hoses soaked the building until the fire was brought under control, about two hours after it started, said fire Capt. Victor Gaudreau.

It caused “extensive damage,” he said.

Local fire inspectors waited until the basement was pumped dry before continuing their investigation into the fire’s cause.