GREENE – Despite 36 years of fighting fires, Don Ferland never saw one like Wednesday’s blaze: his own house engulfed in flames.

Under orders from his chief, Ferland stood by and watched as fellow firefighters from four towns sprayed the charred rooms of his small house and began chopping at his roof with axes.

“At least nobody got hurt,” he said. “I have a lot to be thankful for today.”

It wasn’t easy, though.

Ferland was driving in North Turner when his emergency pager went off around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

It read “possible structure fire at 1048 Allen Pond Road in Greene.”

“That’s my address,” Ferland said to himself. He gunned the hemi beneath the hood of his Dodge and raced home.

“That truck of mine was flying,” he said. “I guess I got here in about three minutes.”

An Androscoggin County deputy sheriff was the first to arrive after a passer-by reported the fire.

When Ferland arrived, flames were shooting out of a second-story window. The deputy had managed to pull two chairs from the house.

“She was fully involved,” said Ferland, who gave only a moment’s thought to going inside after his belongings.

“I took one look and I said, ‘Nope. I’m not going to attempt it,'” he said. A few minutes later, Fire Chief Joe Brown arrived on the scene.

Brown ordered Ferland to step aside.

Firefighters from Greene were joined by Leeds, Monmouth and Wales crews. No one was hurt in the fire, which proved difficult to fight after flames reached the roof.

Metalwork inside allowed the roof to act like an oven, Brown said. Firefighters suited up with extra protective gear before battling the fire. The delay allowed the flames to destroy the house.

Brown guessed that nothing survived the fire, which seemed to have started in either the basement or on the first floor.

An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s office was due to examine the scene late Wednesday, an ordinary procedure for any fire this destructive, Brown said.

The house was insured. Ferland said he boosted the size of his policy earlier this year over worry that it was too small.

A settlement will do little to replace his memories.

He moved into the house in March 1970 and joined the volunteer fire department three months later.

He said he was grateful for the quick response of all the firefighters.

“They take care of their own,” he said.