AUBURN — Firefighters from several towns battled a blaze Wednesday afternoon in a community center on Valery Circle.

The building, used for a Head Start program, was extensively damaged by fire, smoke and water, but no children were inside and no one was hurt, police said.

The 2 p.m. blaze at 109 Valery Circle burned the upper section of the building at the center of a housing complex off Coburn Street. Fire crews from Auburn called for backup from Lewiston, Mechanic Falls, New Gloucester, Poland, Minot and Oxford as they battled flames.

The extra help was mostly a precaution. Auburn crews made quick work of the flames and kept them from spreading to nearby housing. Firefighters had to cut holes in the roof and the sides of the building to ventilate smoke and search for the source of the fire.

“I saw the first firetrucks and thought, ‘So what?’ They’re here all the time,” said Janet Gibson, who lives near the entrance to the housing complex. “Then I saw a couple trucks from Lewiston and I thought, ‘Uh-oh.’ Then there was a truck from Mechanic Falls and some other towns and I thought, ‘I better get ready to evacuate.'”

By 3:30 p.m., the fire was under control and an investigation was underway into the cause. Fire officials said later in the day that the cause was believed to be accidental, but the investigation was ongoing.

The extent of damage to the building was not immediately known. Fire officials said no one was displaced by the blaze.