OTISFIELD – The family of a woman who lost her home in a fire Monday afternoon has spotted one of her pet dogs close to the blackened wreckage of the house on Route 121.

“We managed to find a dog running but we haven’t caught her yet,” Donna Brackett, the niece of Theresa Martin, said Wednesday. The family has enlisted the help of an animal control officer who plans to place a “Havahart” trap by the home to see if the dog might be enticed with food.

“Hopefully, she will come to it and eat so I can get her to the vet,” Brackett said. “She needs to be checked because she is limping.”

Martin’s old farmhouse near Spurr’s Corner burned to the ground Monday, killing at least one dog trapped inside. Two other dogs were taken to a Fryeburg veterinarian for treatment after the fire and are now doing well, Brackett said.

Two more dogs – both terrier mixes – are still missing. One is mostly brown and black, the other is black and white.

The home is not insured, and Martin, who is 69, lost everything. A couple renting rooms in the house also lost their belongings.

Martin is staying with family members in Otisfield until she can find a way to rebuild on her land, Brackett said. Spurr’s Corner Church has given Martin a $175 Wal-Mart certificate allowing her to buy some basic items for herself and her dogs. Other families and churches are stepping in also, Brackett said.

An official who investigated the site Tuesday said he could not determine the cause of the fire because the damage was so extensive.

“The fire originated in the back of the house, in the living area,” said Chris Stanford, an investigator for the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Stanford said one of the home’s occupants, who was inside when the fire began, noticed something wrong with an electrical switch, but Stanford said that could have been a cause of the fire or just a result of the fire.

When Martin’s family returned to the scene to salvage any remains, they found the carcass of a German shepherd belonging to Mae Shelton, who was visiting Martin at the time.

The two women had stepped out to shop for Thanksgiving dinner when the fire started.

The dog that is hanging around the burned house is a terrier cross but resembles a miniature black Labrador retriever with a long tail, Brackett said.

“She’s been right in my aunt’s yard, but every time someone approaches the yard she runs. My aunt was calling and calling her,” Brackett said. “She’s had a very traumatic experience and doesn’t know the correct thing to do.”