Family loses home to fire in Paris

PARIS — Two adults and two dogs escaped their burning home on Ryerson Hill Road shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday after flames erupted in the adjoining garage.

"We believe it started from a six-way electrical plug in the garage," Paris Deputy Chief Willie Buffington said Tuesday night of the fire's origin. He said the family had been vacuuming the area in preparation for company this week and the plug was overloaded.

Randy Wooten and Doris Burnham and their four children — 6-year-old twins and daughters ages 9 and 19 — were not home at the time, according Lyndall Field, who owns the house with her husband, Howard, and rented it to their friends last February.

"She ran down the road yelling the house is on fire," Field said of Burnham, who came to her home on nearby Moody Brook Road. 

Flames were shooting from the house when firefighters arrived and heavy black smoke could be seen rising above Paris Hill from Market Square as the fire spread from the garage to the main portion of the house.

Lyndall Field said her husband is 45 and was raised in the one-story, wood-framed house, which his father built decades ago. It overlooks a breathtaking view of the Oxford Hills and White Mountains beyond. 

"This was the last thing we had of him," she said. "We lost him six years ago. My husband couldn't come to see this."

At least 50 firefighters from Norway, Paris, Oxford, West Paris, Buckfield, Woodstock and Otisfield rushed to the scene, which is about a mile from the top of Paris Hill where firefighters laid water lines to get water to the fire.

"I was kind of nervous when I got here but we never ran out of water," Buffington said as he waited for the state fire marshal to arrive. "I got all the tankers I could get here."

The fire gutted the garage and bedroom above it, and caused heavy damage to the main portion of the house at 203 Ryerson Hill Road.

Howard Field said by phone Tuesday night that the home was insured, and he plans to demolish it and build another. 

Meanwhile, the family was being housed Tuesday night at a local motel, courtesy of the American Red Cross.

Howard Field said his friend Chris Stearns, who worked for his father, offered the family the use of a home he just finished building in Paris, giving them immediate shelter and allowing their children to stay in their current schools.

"He's a nice guy," Field said of Stearns.

Staff Editor Mary Delamater contributed to this report.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

mdelamater@sunjournal.com