RUMFORD – An elderly couple returned home from a trip to Freeport Friday afternoon to find 50 firefighters from six towns fighting a fire at their house.

Lynden E. and Barbara Clarke of 720 Hancock St. had driven to L.L. Bean, where Barbara is employed, to pick up her paycheck on her day off, Rumford Deputy Chief Richard Coulombe said.

The couple returned at 3:15 p.m., an hour after the fire started in the area of the home’s basement. A neighbor said the couple had lived in the house since 1958, raising a family.

Neighbors rushed over to meet the Clarkes, who stared in disbelief at their white vinyl-sided house as smoke continued to swirl out of it. Barbara Clarke wiped tears from her eyes as she leaned against their car while firefighters helped her husband salvage belongings.

The fire started about 2:15 p.m., Coulombe said.

A neighbor spotted smoke coming from attic vents, called 9-1-1, then began spraying water on two propane tanks next to the chimney of the one-and-a-half story building.

Shortly after, arriving firefighters from Rumford and Mexico reported a working fire in progress, and Coulombe called for additional manpower from Dixfield, Byron, Peru and Andover.

“When I got here, there was fire all over the place,” said Rumford patrolman Mark Cayer, who, with officer Brock Clukey and Chief Timothy Bourassa, detoured traffic and Mountain Valley High School buses around the busy scene.

Coulombe said when he arrived, fire had appeared on both sides of the chimney. It was quickly knocked down by an interior attack.

Fire damage was limited to rooms near the chimney where flames had gotten into the walls of two rooms on the first floor and one room on the second floor, Coulombe said.

Additionally, the house sustained substantial heat, smoke and water damage.

Firefighters hope to determine the fire’s cause during an investigation Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Clarkes, who were insured, would be staying with their son in Canaan, Coulombe added.

[email protected]