Firefighters from 14 towns battle flames, heat, humidity and exhaustion Monday at a fire that destroyed a home, barn and workshop at 24 Ada Ave. in Peru. Firefighters from 14 towns were called to provide enough manpower and equipment to extinguish the flames. Peru Fire Department photo

PERU — A couple lost their home, workshop and barn in a Monday afternoon blaze that state investigators suggested could have started from a five-gallon bucket of rags used for staining, Fire Chief Dan Carrier Jr. said.

Firefighters from 14 towns battled the flames in high heat and humidity for more than five hours at Jeff Dolloff’s home at 24 Ada Ave.

Two people were transported to a hospital for heat exhaustion, checked and released, Carrier said.

“The barn was fully involved, the workshop was fully involved, and there was heavy smoke coming out of the eves on the residence part,” the chief said when he arrived after the 11:56 a.m. call.

“When we got there, everything was pretty much a total loss. But we tried to do our best to put it out,” he said. “We had some water supply issues until we could get set up. Then we had personnel issues because of the heat and humidity, and the heat of the fire, guys were going down, dehydrated,” he said.

The barn was attached to the workshop that’s attached to the double-wide trailer and another attachment, he said. “It was all one long building, around 100 feet from one to the other.

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“We needed a lot of equipment from different areas because the water needed to be trucked in. We used about 60,000 gallons of water to put it out,” Carrier said.

They also also needed a lot of manpower.

“The guys couldn’t work but 20 minutes and they’d be completely exhausted from the heat and humidity, never mind the heat from the fire,” he said. “You’d just get so dehydrated.”

“We kept calling for more trucks for a water supply and more manpower because it was a lot to deal with,” Carrier said.

Firefighters and equipment from Peru, Rumford, Mexico, Canton, Dixfield, Sumner, Jay, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Newry, Bethel, Woodstock, East Dixfield and Roxbury were at the scene, as well as Med-Care Ambulance.

Dolloff, who lived there with his longtime girlfriend, had insurance on the home. He was at work at the time but she was home, Carrier said.

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“She had been doing some staining in the workshop … When she saw fire and went to open the door to the workshop, the fire got the oxygen it needed and it took off,” the chief said.

Flames and smoke rise Monday afternoon from the home of Jeff Dolloff at 24 Ada Ave. in Peru. All three attached building were a total loss, Fire Chief Dan Carrier Jr. said. Fire Departments from 14 towns were called for equipment and manpower. Peru Fire Department photo

Carrier said they had to bring an excavator in and tear the buildings down and apart and get all the metal roofing off “so we could get to the hot spots of the fire to complete putting it out.”

The Office of the State Fire Marshal is investigating and is leaning toward a five-gallon bucket of rags used for staining being the cause, the chief said.

“I want to thank all the departments and their personnel, and people who transported stuff with their ATVs and four wheelers until we could get another side-by-side utility there to get people because it was about a 800- or 900-foot walk right uphill to the place. So by the time the guys walked from the road from wherever they could park and then up there, it was quite a distance in the heat with 65 pounds of gear on. They were tired before they even started fighting the fire.”

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