DURHAM – Firefighters stretched hoses 1,000 feet down the dirt Peter Vier Road on Friday afternoon to knock down flames inside a home.
The owner, Walter Johnson, who was at home when the fire started, lived in the basement apartment, which was not damaged, Deputy Fire Chief Curtis Dimock said. Johnson told firefighters he planned to stay there Friday night, according to the chief.
The upstairs tenants were not at home when flames swept through the house.
Nobody was hurt in the 3 p.m. blaze, which is believed to have started from an electrical problem. Firefighters saved a cat from the burning home, and a dog on a lower floor was unharmed.
The fire, which was called in by a neighbor, started in the ceiling near a chimney, said Dimock.
Flames were shooting from the first floor windows when fire crews arrived about 3:05 p.m.
Firefighters set up portable pools full of water and hauled hoses down the long, muddy road leading to the home.
The blaze was under control less than a half-hour after crews arrived, according to Durham fire Capt. Mike Brilliant. Several rooms were damaged by fire, heat, water and smoke but firefighters stopped the flames before they destroyed the building.
“In 20 minutes or so, we had it knocked down,” Brilliant said.
Peter Vier Road is a dead-end road off Davis Road.
Brilliant said several rooms on the first floor were extensively damaged while bedrooms on the upper floors sustained mostly smoke damage.
Firefighters who arrived first carried a cat away from the burning house while the family dog cowered in a part of the house.
“The dog didn’t want to leave, but he was in no danger,” Brilliant said.
Several other pets were believed to have escaped the burning building on their own.
Fire crews remained at the scene until about 6:15 p.m., mopping up.
In addition to all of Durham’s firefighters and equipment, including a new truck that was delivered last weekend, two trucks from Lisbon Falls, three from Freeport, two from Pownal and one from New Gloucester responded for assistance.
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