Fire destroys a historic downtown Montgomery business.

Fire crews responded to the three alarm blaze around 6 a.m. Monday morning.

Employees showing up for work around 6:30 in the morning found a building engulfed in flames.

The business was the home office, housing old roofing equipment and the accounting operations.

CFO Kristine Mantel says computers, back up tapes and personal items all went up in smoke.

"This is just a very heartbreaking event, very unexpected of course a fire normally is but it's heartbreaking there's sixty years off history in that building," said Mantel.

It took 15 units of firefighters an hour and half to get control of flames and even longer to put out hot spots. Three fire fighters received minor injuries. They were treated and released.

Standard Roofing has a long history in the roofing business. Owner Pete Taylor says he remembers coming to the building when he was a boy.

"The company was founded by my grandfather Henry Watson Taylor in 1945 and so it began right at the end of world war two, my father returned three years after that from his service in the navy and then subsequent graduation college," said Taylor.

Standard Roofing has installed roofing systems around the globe including some very well known structures in the Southeast.

"Conoco's World Headquarters in Houston, the Superdome, locally Hyundai, also Mercedes Benz, we've done significant amount of work in Atlanta most of the school system has Standard Roofing roofs on it," said Taylor.

Taylor says he's very thankful that no employees were injured in the fire.

"This is not a loss of life, this is not a loss of lively hood, this is a loss of a physical structure that can be replaced in a matter of months which is which is what we intend to do," said Taylor.

The company is already looking at renting a space right around the corner from the damaged building and says they will not let the fire stop operations.

A cat and a dog living at the company escaped without injuries.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Standard Roofing has facilities in Birmingham and Pensacola, Florida.