LEWISTON – A fire that started near a stackable washer and dryer in the back bedroom of a Brigham Street house late Saturday afternoon destroyed the structure and killed two pet dogs.

Lewiston Fire Capt. Victor Gaudreau said the fire was reported at 4:48 p.m. at 63 Brigham St., a white, single-story home at the northern end of the Brigham Street cul-de-sac, owned by Larry and Michelle Berube.

Lewiston Fire Inspector Paul Ouellette said no one was home at the time. Larry Berube and his son, Benjamin, were visiting Larry’s brother. Michelle Berube had stopped at the house to run a load of laundry and then left to do some shopping. The fire started while she was gone, Ouellette said.

“We are fairly confident that the fire started in the area of that stackable washer and dryer, but we’re not ready to say what the exact cause was,” he said.

Ouellette said firefighters learned from Michelle Berube that the family’s two Shih Tzu dogs were still in the house.

“She said, ‘We have two dogs. Do you know if they made it out?'” Ouellette said. Firefighters located both dogs once the fire had been extinguished. Both had been killed.

“The house is a total loss,” he said, estimating damage at more than $100,000.

“The rear bedroom and the bathroom were heavily destroyed, and the rest of the structure suffered from the heat and the smoke damage,” he said. Firefighters had to tear holes in the roof as they struggled to get the fire under control.

The Berubes plan to stay with local family for the next few days, Ouellette said.

A rapid intervention team from Auburn responded to the scene to back up the Lewiston firefighters working inside the structure. A ladder and a pumper truck from the Lisbon Fire Department and a pumper truck from the Sabattus Fire Department were on call at Lewiston’s Central Station while city crews fought the fire.