LEWISTON – Winter Street neighbors will meet Monday night to discuss ways to help Gail Hart and her family who were ousted from their homes by a fire last weekend.

Neighbors reported the blaze at 71 Winter St. at 8:45 a.m. Sunday. It eventually destroyed the three-story, two-family home. The blaze is believed to have started on the first-floor side porch and had engulfed the side of the building by the time fire crews and police officers arrived.

Members of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in basement conference room H of 12 High St., part of Central Maine Medical Center’s Campus, to talk about how to help Hart and her family.

“This will be a big loss to the neighborhood because Gale lived here for so long,” said Rachel Rodrigue, of 74 Winter St. “Losing both Gale and her beautifully maintained home from the neighborhood is so significant because of how proud she was of the house and how amazingly beautiful it was.”

The family had spent the last 30 years restoring the home. It was declared a total loss after the fire, with nothing inside salvageable.

“Gale is the type of person who looks out for her neighbors and she was never afraid to speak up when something in the neighborhood needed to be addressed,” Rodrigue said.

The association was formed last summer to promote the area around Sunnyside Park, south of the Riverside Cemetery. The group claims the area from the Longley Bridge south to Chapel Street Alley and from Main Street west to the river. The area is also known as Hospital Hill, and neighbors call it Lewiston’s Back Bay.

Hart was one of the founding members of the association.