By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

DIXFIELD – A family of four was left homeless early Wednesday afternoon after their house beside Route 2 caught fire.

Two girls, ages 11 and 13, daughters of Boyd and Pam Wilkins, and a family dog, safely escaped from the home at 1124 Main St., officials said. The children’s parents were at work when the house burned.

No one was injured in the fire, which was reported about 1:50 p.m.

“It appears that the fire started outside, in the vicinity of a shed beside the house,” Dixfield fire Chief Scott Dennett said early Wednesday evening.

The cause is currently undetermined. State Fire Marshal fire investigator Chris Stanford is to examine the scene this afternoon to try to determine a cause.

The house, which was insured, sustained extensive smoke and water damage, Dennett said. He estimated the damage at $50,000 to $60,000.

Passers-by may have spotted the fire and stopped to get the girls out, or alerted responders.

Dennett urged anyone who saw the fire before firefighters arrived, to call him at the Dixfield station at 562-7629.

Initial confusion about the fire’s reported location caused Dennett to call for a mutual-aid response from Jay, Wilton, East Dixfield, Peru, Mexico and Rumford fire departments.

The scene was first reported to be miles away from the Wilkins house, near the Dixfield side of Morrison Hill, where there are houses larger than the 1-story Wilkins home.

“We needed a water supply, and I was afraid it was a bigger place, farther out,” Dennett said.

As about 50 firefighters and several firetrucks converged on the scene, Dixfield police Chief Richard A. Pickett shut down Route 2 for nearly 90 minutes to give responders room to work. Water had to be shuttled to two collapsible holding tanks set up in the westbound lane.

East Dixfield firefighters and Mexico police diverted traffic around the area on Common Road and Canton Point Road. Some westbound traffic was let through until 4:30 p.m., when two-lane traffic resumed.

Kathy Hussey, wife of Peru fire Chief Bill Hussey, said they were at Twin Rivers Lumber in Dixfield when they heard the fire call and drove to the home, the first responders to arrive.

Passers-by had stopped to help as heavy fire and smoke enveloped the left rear side near a back bedroom, Kathy Hussey said, while firefighters attacked the fire.

The girls were already out, and the dog was in a car in the driveway when the Husseys arrived.

“One girl said she heard crackling, looked out and saw fire, and got the other girl and the dog out,” Kathy Hussey said.

Firefighters wearing breathing gear entered the house in teams, while others knocked down flames on the shed side, which extended into the eaves and an upstairs bedroom.

Metal roofing kept intense heat and smoke trapped inside, blackening firefighter helmets and face shields, which made it difficult to find the fire upstairs, Dennett said.

One firefighter climbed a ladder to the roof and broke out a window, and thick black and gray smoke immediately roiled out.

A section of roofing at the rear of the house had to be peeled back to get at fire underneath it.

Dennett said the displaced family would be staying with family in the area. The United Valley Chapter of the Red Cross in Lewiston had also been contacted, and was responding by early evening.