TURNER – The 42 cows that burned in a blaze at Leavitt Dairy Farm late Tuesday were Robert Leavitt’s best milkers. In some ways, they were also like a part of his farm family.

Leavitt was assessing his losses Wednesday after the fire leveled a barn and damaged his nearby home on Plains Road.

Leavitt said the cows that perished in the 9:30 p.m. fire were the best he had. His remaining cattle, many of them non-milkers, were being shipped off to other farms.

Leavitt said he was moved by the outpouring from friends and neighbors who offered to help him recover from the devastating blaze. They stopped at Leavitt’s farm throughout the day to offer him support and condolences, Leavitt said.

By Wednesday night, Leavitt was trying to figure out where he would stay while deciding what to do about his damaged property. Also destroyed in the fire was fire equipment and a goat.

In addition, Leavitt said he had finished building a three-stall milking parlor in the barn just hours before it caught fire. Leavitt was taking a shower inside his home when he learned his barn was on fire a short distance away.

Meanwhile, Turner fire officials and investigators from the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office were trying to determine what caused the blaze.

The fire tore through the barn and swiftly burned it nearly flat. Flames spread to Leavitt’s home, destroying parts of it.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze. Firefighters had to truck water from nearly a mile away as they struggled to save Leavitt’s home.

The farm is located on Plains Road between Merrill Mills Road and Route 219. Flames could be seen from sections of Route 4, nearly a mile away.

If bad luck runs in threes, Leavitt said he hopes Tuesday’s fire is the last incident in a string of misfortune he’s been plagued with over the last year.

A year ago, a maple tree fell on Leavitt’s property, crushing three of his trucks. Earlier this winter, a piece of farm equipment caught fire during a cold spell. The blaze that swept through his barn Tuesday night was the third stroke of bad luck.

“I’m all done,” Leavitt said.

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