MEXICO – A two-car garage being used to store snowmobiles and a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle on Mexico Avenue was gutted by fire on Saturday afternoon.

Damage to the uninsured contents and building owned by Rick Cataloni at 27 Mexico Ave. was estimated at $75,000, according to Mexico fire Chief Gary Wentzell. There were no injuries.

“It looks like it started in the chimney area, caught some boards on fire and spread to the four-wheeler, and that went up and it took off,” Wentzell said on-scene.

Earlier, Cataloni had been cleaning the garage, then went inside his nearby two-story home to clean up, Wentzell said. The garage is separated from the house by a driveway.

A passerby alerted Cataloni to the fire by honking his car horn outside the house. Firefighters from Mexico and Rumford and a Med-Care Ambulance crew responded to the 2:16 p.m. call for help.

“Smoke was roiling right out of it when we arrived, but the fire was all inside. It hadn’t broken through it yet,” Wentzell said.

The blaze was quickly knocked down.

While investigating the cause, Wentzell said there was no electrical power to the building, but a wood stove was providing heat.

He said the chimney didn’t have the right clearances from boards around it.

Destroyed equipment included a 2008 four-wheeler, 2007 and 2006 snowmobiles, and a generator, Wentzell said. Other equipment in another room was not damaged.