TURNER — Seven firefighting crews were successful Saturday night in battling a basement and first-floor fire at a house on Howes Corner Road in Turner.

The fire, however, reignited hours later and destroyed the house, despite the efforts of firefighters who had returned to the scene.

None of the building’s occupants was inside the house at 267 Howes Corner Road at the time of the fires, and pets were able to make it out, officials said.

The cause of the original fire was still being investigated Sunday.

Chief Nicholas Merry of the Turner Fire Department said his crew arrived to heavy fire rolling out of the basement door and window at the front of the building.

“We had roof collapse on the back side of the building, which backed all of our crews out of the building and left us to an exterior attack,” Merry said. “We attacked the fire probably for about an hour from outside.”

Firefighters were able to control the fire and foam the building so they could assess the damage. Cameras were used to identify hot spots and residual smoke, but none was found, Merry said.

At about 1:15 a.m. Sunday, crews were called back to the house because the fire had rekindled and spread to the second floor, causing the roof to collapse, officials said.

Merry said he requested an excavator from Turner Highway Department, and asked the Office of State Fire Marshal come to the scene to conduct an investigation.

“The fire marshal showed up and took a bunch of pictures,” Merry said, “and the excavator showed up shortly thereafter and tore the building apart just so we could get all the hot spots out. Nobody was hurt and everybody did a good job.”

Firefighters from Buckfield, Canton, Greene, Leeds, Livermore and Sumner also helped battle the fires.

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