PARIS — A family of four, including a five-month-old and a 9-year-old, escaped a fast-moving fire that destroyed their barn and heavily damaged their house off Paris Hill on Saturday morning.

No one was injured in the fire at 55 Moody Brook Road, but the barn, believed to have been built in the early 1900s, burned to the ground. The two-story house, dated around 1850, is unlivable. As many as six chickens were believed killed in the barn fire.

“It was pretty well gone when we got there,” fire Chief Brad Frost said. Firefighters say the barn burned to the ground in the 8 minutes it took Paris firefighters to get to the scene from the firehouse in downtown Paris. By that time, the fire had spread into the back of the house, which is 50 to 75 feet from the barn, Frost said.

He said the homeowners, Shawn and Molly Knight, called in the fire at 10:24 a.m. after they and their two children escaped. Frost said the owner was in an adjacent metal garage working when the family spotted fire. That building was not damaged.

Frost said cold temperatures, in the 20s, and high winds made the fire more difficult to fight. Although the hose water did not freeze, he said the bitter wind that swept across the open field made dousing the fire difficult. It took about an hour to contain the blaze, he said.

Water had to be hauled from the top of Paris Hill where a hydrant system is located 2 to 3 miles away, Frost said.

He said once he knew the location of the fire, he immediately called in a tanker task force. “Right away, that gives me at least four tankers,” Frost said of the response from Paris, Norway, Oxford and Poland.

The property is on a hill back from Moody Brook Road, which is off Ryserson and Paris Hill roads.

A Moody Brook Road neighbor, who declined to be identified, said he was at the back of his house across the street when he heard another neighbor’s horse whinnying and prancing around. He said he heard loud crackling and snapping and saw a huge plume of black smoke across the street.

Firefighters at the scene hours later said they believed about six of the dozen or so chickens in the barn, which measured 40 by 75 feet, escaped. All that remained of the barn late Saturday afternoon were pieces of its metal roof and the stone foundation.

Fire engines from Mechanic Falls, Waterford and Harrison covered area stations. The Red Cross was called to the scene to assist the displaced family.

Firefighters were able to get a few items out of house, Frost said.

He said an investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s office would be at the site Monday to begin an investigation.

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