CASCO — A family of four was without home and belongings after a fire gutted their trailer Friday afternoon.  

The wood-shingled trailer at 59 Varney Hill Road was unoccupied when the blaze was reported to dispatchers around noon. One dog died in the blaze, and another was unaccounted for, Raymond fire Chief Bruce Tupper said. The home, located at the end of a dead-end dirt road, was gutted and declared a total loss. 

Tupper said crews responded to a fully involved structure fire shortly after it started and were able to contain the blaze from spreading. A car parked in the driveway was blackened on one side, though it was not known if it was totaled.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office. An investigator on scene after the fire had been extinguished said it appears as though the fire began in a mudroom that had been added on after the trailer was built. The mudroom was destroyed in the fire.

Landlord Nancy Shane identified one of the occupants as Katrina Fortin, who along with her husband have rented the home for about a decade, she said. Shane said they have 17- and 9-year-old children. 

“They’re family to me,” Shane said. “The kids called me ‘Nana.'” 

There were no injuries to the more than 20 firefighters from Casco, Raymond, Otisfield, Gray and Naples who responded to the scene, but one firefighter was treated for exhaustion. 

ccrosby@sunmediagroup.net 

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