A fire that heavily damaged Cleaning City at the intersection of South Front and Broad streets in Souderton appears to have been caused by accident.

That’s the early impression of Souderton Fire Marshal Steve Coll, who said Friday that while nobody was hurt by the fire, all clothing inside appears to be a loss.

“It’s a shame, it’s a pretty big loss because of the cleaning service they were providing for a lot of people,” he said.

The fire appears to have started around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the middle of the businesses’ floor space, Coll said, and also caused minor smoke damage to Chadwick Optical, a tenant in the rear of the building.

The Optical business will operate out of a second location while repairs are done at the building, but Cleaning City will have plenty of work to do before they return, he said.

“It’ll be closed for a while. It’s going to involve probably a complete demolition of the ceiling, and product loss was pretty much all gone,” said Coll.

“Anybody who had shirts in there, they’re all pretty much damaged by the heavy smoke and heat,” he said.

Multiple fire companies responded to the scene for approximately three hours, from roughly 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Grand View EMS assisted at the scene, he said