No one was injured. The cause of the fire remained under investigation Thursday evening.

“We’re going to investigate it pretty hard,” Fire Chief Matt Price said. “The PD is going to be involved.”

The fire in the building at 205 S. Eighth St. was reported at 10:52 a.m. when someone called 911 to report black smoke coming from the building. When firefighters arrived, smoke was coming out a third floor window on the building’s west side.

Firefighters took a 2 1/2-inch diameter hoseline in through the front door and up the stairs to attack the fire.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Black smoke is seen pushing out of a third floor window in the former Federal Building at 205 S. Eighth St. soon after firefighters arrived Thursday morning.

“They made the stairs and went down the hall to the right and that’s when they had it,” Price said.

He said flames were coming out into the hallway when firefighters got onto the third floor.

The fire, he said, started in a 20-by-40-foot room on the third floor which he said appeared to be a library. That room sustained major fire damage. There was some fire spread into the adjoining rooms and down the hall, Price said. The entire third floor sustained heat damage.

Additionally, the third and fourth floors were “supercharged” with smoke, Price said.

He said the building’s construction held the heat and smoke inside

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
A Fort Dodge firefighter looks out from a third floor window while working to extinguish a fire Thursday morning in the former Federal Building, 205 S. Eighth St.

Price said there was “no one in the building that we know of” when the fire was reported.

Firefighters had to connect to a hydrant at Second Avenue South and Seventh Street.

Long sections of Second Avenue South and Eighth Street were closed. Road cones were put up to block traffic.

The Fort Dodge police and public works departments, and Webster County sheriff’s deputies responded along with city firefighters.

Most of the responding personnel had left the scene by about 2 p.m., but investigators were there throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Firefighters arrive at the former Federal Building late Thursday morning after someone called 911 to report black smoke coming from the building.

A sign on the front of the building identifies it as the Vyrsity Innovation Center.

A statement on the Vyrsity web site says “The Vyrsity Innovation Center will be the central collaborative hub of Vyrsity, AgathonEDU, and its partners, and is intended to make a global impact promoting transformative learning and leadership. Through the 66,000 square foot Vyrsity Innovation Center AgathonEDU and its partners will work to maximize their faithfulness in stewardship and impact, seeking to benefit the local community, the Midwest, and far beyond, extending throughout the United States and globally, particularly through leveraging technology and innovation.”

AgathonEDU appears to be part of Agathon University of Applied Faith based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

The building is owned by Harvest Baptist Church, of Fort Dodge, according to online records of the Webster County Assessor’s Office.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fort Dodge firefighters work near the front entrance to the former Federal Building Thursday morning. A fire there caused significant damage to the third floor and filled the building with smoke.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fort Dodge firefighters set up the Fire Department’s aerial ladder truck Thursday morning while working to combat a blaze in the former Federal Building at 205 S. Eighth St.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Children in the Blanden Art Education Center at 224 S. Eighth St. watch firefighters work to extinguish a blaze across the street in the former Federal Building.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Fourteen empty air tanks from firefighter self-contained breathing apparatus sit in the bed of the Fire Department pickup truck Thursday morning, waiting to be taken back to the firehouse to be refilled. Firefighters used many air tanks while putting out a fire in the former Federal Building.