By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

SABATTUS – A hyperactive dog was blamed for an early morning fire that burned four people out of a trailer on Meadow Lane.

Fire officials said the dog knocked over a kerosene lantern at about 1 a.m., starting a fire that gutted the building and left the four residents homeless.

Nobody was hurt in the blaze at 6 Meadow Lane. Sabattus Fire Chief Don Therrien said everybody was out of the trailer when firefighters arrived.

Crews quickly began to douse the flames shooting from the 48 foot-by-16-foot trailer off Bog Spur Road, which is off Marsh Road. Therrien called for backup from departments in Wales and Litchfield, but quickly canceled the request as Sabattus firefighters got the fire contained.

“We knocked it down pretty quick,” the chief said. “It was a good stop.”

Therrien said the four people living in the trailer, all young adults, had been doing work on the building in recent days. The fire was contained to the bedroom, hallways and part of a bathroom, with smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the trailer.

Most of the contents inside the trailer were lost to the flames.

“They won’t be moving back in any time soon,” Therrien said.

The names of the occupants were not available. The American Red Cross was helping them with temporary lodging and clothes.

Therrien and his crew investigated the blaze once it was brought under control. It was deemed accidental, the result of the overturned lantern that was knocked over by the dog.

“I was told the dog has knocked over that lantern many times in the past,” Therrien said. “This time, it caught fire.”

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