LISBON — A broken water main hampered efforts as firefighters battled a blaze at about 1:20 p.m. Wednesday at 67 Frost Hill Road.
Christina Siragusa, who owns the house, said she and her boyfriend, Jesse Doiron, were in the basement when they heard a loud bang upstairs. They went to investigate and found the garage attached to the front of the house ablaze.
“All we could see was fire on the other side of the (glass) door,” Doiron said.
Siragusa said the couple had put out a stove fire in the kitchen earlier in the day and disposed of the ashes in the garage.
“Apparently, they caught back up,” said Doiron, who stood at the end of a neighbor’s driveway in his socks.
Siragusa had lived in the house for about 18 years, Doiron said. The building was insured, he said.
Both the couple and their neighbors called 911. Neighbors rescued their two dogs. A firefighter carried a red bin that contained a pet turtle to where the couple was watching from a distance. They were told not to get close because there was a chance a propane tank behind the house might explode.
Doiron owns a home in Lewiston where the couple plans to stay, he said.
The garage and kitchen at the front of the house were heavily damaged by the fire. Two vehicles — a car and a pickup truck — parked in the driveway near the garage were charred by the blaze.
As firefighters continued battling the flames, a water main farther down the street broke. Water bubbled up through the front yard of a neighboring home.
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- Lisbon and Lewiston firefighters battle a house fire on Frost Hill Avenue in Lisbon on Wednesday. The fire ignited two vehicles parked close to the structure. Homeowner Christina Siragusa and her boyfriend, Jesse Doiron, were home at the time, but were able to escape the flames. Their two dogs and a red-eared slider turtle also were safe.
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- Christina Siragusa, right, and Jesse Doiron check out their red-eared slider turtle, which was delivered to them by Lisbon fire Chief Sean Galipeau after it was found safe in its tank inside Siragusa’s smoldering home Wednesday.
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- Firefighters break a window for ventilation while working to contain a fire at 67 Frost Hill Avenue in Lisbon on Wednesday.
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- Water runs down Frost Hill Avenue in Lisbon after a water main break Wednesday afternoon hampered efforts of the Lisbon and Lewiston fire departments to knock down hot spots at a structure fire.
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- Jesse Doiron, foreground, sits with his girlfriend, Christina Siragusa, in a neighbor’s driveway as they watch Lisbon and Lewiston firefighters battle flames and smoke at Siragusa’s house in Lisbon on Wednesday afternoon.
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