An early morning fire ripped through a part of the Family & Community Services building on Gougler Avenue today.

The fire, which was reported shortly after 6 a.m., caused heavy damage to the northern, upstairs portion of the building.

Mark Frisone, executive director of F&CS, said the agency staff hopes to reopen the building to clients of their mental health and susbtance counseling services by Monday.

"The building’s large enough that we’ll be able to, as long as we can get in here, keep service disruption to a minimum," Frisone said.

Kent police and fire investigators are investigating the cause of the blaze.

Look for updates to this story on Kent Patch.