AUBURN – A mother rescued her 9-month-old child, and three other children fled to safety as an early morning fire gutted a Summer Street house Wednesday. A cat also was saved.

Fire investigators say the 12:30 a.m. blaze at 85 Summer St. was likely caused by a discarded cigarette or a candle left burning. The fire, which began on the first floor of the three-unit apartment house, was ruled accidental.

Fire Lt. Gary Simard said Misty and Santos Romero and their two children – one 9 months and the other 8 years old – were at home along with two visitors, children ages 8 and 10 years old, when the fire began to burn through the kitchen.

Simard said the 9-month-old was sleeping in a room off the kitchen when the blaze was discovered. Misty Santos raced into the room to carry the infant out of the building.

“She had to come close to the fire to get the baby,” Simard said. “She just barely made it. Another minute or so, and it would have been a lot closer. The fire moved pretty fast.”

The three other children were in another part of the apartment when the fire began and were able to escape through the rear of the building, Simard said.

“They were in a back room, having a campover type of thing,” he said.

Firefighters from Lewiston and Auburn went inside the building and attacked the flames with four hoses. They kept the fire from leaping to nearby structures, other homes, a barn and a garage, but by the time it was brought under control, the first floor was gutted.

“That family lost everything. There was nothing left,” Simard said. “They got out of there with what clothes they wore on their backs.”

The family was being assisted by the American Red Cross, which put them up in a motel room and were providing clothes and other items.

The building, owned by Audra and Ryan Wimert of Cumberland, sustained damages estimated at between $150,000 and $200,000. Simard said the first-floor would need to be redone while the upper floors had less severe damage.

“The firefighters made a good stop,” he said. “They got the fire down before it totally gutted the second floor.”

Firefighters also credited Amy Frederick, a woman who lives across the street from the building that burned, for assisting in the aftermath of the blaze.

“She brought the kids in and gave them blankets and hot chocolate. She really helped the family out,” Simard said. “She also let us use her house for interviews and all that. She just opened it up to anyone who needed it.”