LEBANON — Motorists stopped their cars on Mechanic Street Friday morning to investigate the damage an overnight fire caused to the popular Dairy Twirl ice cream shop.

The fire at the two-story building with an attic that houses the seasonal eatery and Montshire Towing and Recovery offices, forced the evacuation of three upstairs tenants and left the building with “significant property damage,” according to a Friday morning news release from the Lebanon Fire Department.

“This is a huge loss for the community,” Vanessa Simmons, an Enfield resident, said Friday.

Established in 1975, Dairy Twirl, located at 39 Mechanic Street, has been a staple of Lebanon for 50 years and a popular photo op spot for candidates on the campaign trail, including Hillary Clinton in 2015.

Dairy Twirl often opens Mother’s Day weekend, and is a sign for many Upper Valley residents that summer has arrived.

“Going to Dairy Twirl in the summer is part of the tradition of living in the Upper Valley,” Marcy Bartlett, of Wilder, said from the parking lot of the property. “I hope they’re able to rebuild, we’ll miss it if they don’t.”

Cinnamon and Brent Murray bought the Dairy Twirl business and the building in 2013. The Murrays also own Montshire Towing and Recovery in West Lebanon and Bob’s Service Center in White River Junction. They did not respond to the Valley News’ emails and phone calls by deadline on Friday.

Lebanon Fire Chief James Wheatley said in a phone interview the “property owners are working through the process” of determining whether the building is a total loss. The building was built in 1930 and has an assessed value of $208,400, according to city property records.

Firefighters responded to the property at about 11 p.m. Thursday for a fire in a second-floor apartment. The apartment’s three occupants had evacuated, “but were stranded on the roof and in immediate danger,” according to the release.

Lebanon Police Sgt. Logan Scelza helped the people escape from the roof. There were no reported injuries.

Meanwhile, Lebanon firefighters “quickly initiated an aggressive attack on the fire.”

A total of about 40 firefighters from the Hanover, Hartford, Enfield, Canaan, Plainfield, Woodstock, Hartland, Windsor, Lyme, Grantham, Claremont and New London departments assisted in attacking the four-alarm fire. The extra help was needed “due to heavy fire conditions and extreme cold, which rapidly depleted resources,” the release said.

The fire was declared under control at 1:05 a.m. and all fire department units cleared the scene at 6 a.m.

The cause of the fire is “under investigation but is not believed to be suspicious.”

On Friday morning, Susan Agan, of West Lebanon, took a picture of the burned building to send to her kids who grew up coming to Dairy Twirl with their late grandfather.

“It’s a little historic thing,” she said. “It’s really sad.”

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.