LEWISTON – A neighbor’s quick-dialing fingers helped contain a morning fire at 5 Brule St. on Friday.

The fire, which began in the living room of the house owned by Kenneth and Tina Blauvert, damaged the interior and blew out two downstairs windows.

No one was home at the time and no people were injured. However, the fire claimed the lives of three house pets: a cat, a beagle and a dachshund.

Lewiston Fire Inspector Peter Morrell estimated damage at between $50,000 and $60,000.

“There wasn’t much fire damage, other than in the living room area,” Morrell said. “But there was a lot of smoke damage upstairs and in the hallways.”

Morrell blamed the fire on an unattended candle. The homeowner had left the house at about 10 a.m. to go Christmas shopping, Morrell said.

Neighbor Mike Knowlton said he noticed smoke pouring out a roof vent on the northwest side of the house just after 11 a.m. Friday. He grabbed a portable telephone and began calling 911 while he ran to the house.

“I noticed that the front window was busted out,” he said. “I was worried that somebody was still in there.”

Knowlton and neighbor Dan Lalonde, a retired Lewiston firefighter, both yelled in the broken window while they waited for firetrucks to arrive.

“There had to be a lot of heat down there to do that to those windows,” said Lalonde.

Fire officials kept the fire contained to the downstairs and had it under control by 11:30 a.m.