LEWISTON – Ten people displaced by fire on Lisbon Street late Monday night returned to their homes a day later.

Fire investigators said the blaze at 700 Lisbon St. started in an attic crawl space. Early indications were that the source of the fire was electrical. However, the exact cause had not been pinpointed Tuesday and the investigation was continuing.

When investigators began probing the area where the fire began, they found coils of electrical wires as well as cable and phone lines.

“An electrical cause would be the most logical, but we couldn’t find the specific wire that acted as the culprit,” said fire Inspector Paul Ouellette, who spent most of Tuesday morning digging into the ceiling where the fire began.

It burned in the ceiling above a third-floor apartment at the front of the building, Ouellette said. That apartment was unoccupied, though tenants from another third-floor apartment in the same building had been moving in to that unit.

Those tenants, a pair of men, were able to return to their original apartment Tuesday morning, as were families from the second floor, including a woman with five children.

At about 10:45 p.m. Monday, a man driving on Lisbon Street noticed smoke pouring from the eaves of the three-story building and called for help.

“It could have been smoldering for hours,” Ouellette said.

Fire crews had the fire under control within minutes but had to cut through the roof of the building to get at the source of it.

Damage was estimated at $20,000. On the first floor, the Lewiston Redemption and Discount Beverage store sustained minor water damage but was open for business Tuesday morning.

The local chapter of the American Red Cross went to the scene early Tuesday to help tenants who were briefly left without homes.