LEWISTON — A fire that leveled an Old Greene Road home late Wednesday night started in the area of a wood stove, a fire investigator said Friday.

The 10:30 p.m. blaze at the home of Rosaire Tardiff destroyed the two-story cape and a dog perished in the blaze.

Fire investigators were unable to enter the burned out shell of the house at 678 Old Greene Road once the fire was brought under control. The structure was too unstable, Lewiston Fire Inspector Paul Ouellette said. However, he said it was plain to see that the fire started around a wood stove in the kitchen. The blaze was classified as accidental.

Tardiff was sleeping in a second-story bedroom when the fire started, Ouellette said. He escaped just ahead of the flames that quickly spread from the first floor to the second and then into the attic.

“He smelled smoke,” Ouellette said. “When he came downstairs, there was fire in the area of the wood stove.”

The house burned quickly, Ouellette said, because of balloon-style construction, with large gaps between the walls in which flames can easily move.

Fire crews from five towns battled the blaze. They were hampered by a lack of fire hydrants in the area. Lewiston fire crews used water from their tanker and then from those of departments from other towns.

“We relied heavily on shuttled water,” Ouellette said.

Tardiff was staying with a relative in Lewiston, Ouellette said. His dog was found in the living room of the burned home.