LIVERMORE FALLS — A 19-year-old man suffered smoke inhalation and a singed beard Sunday when the race car he was building caught fire in a garage at 19 Otis St., Fire Rescue Chief Nathan Guptill said Monday.

Flames and smoke engulf a garage Sunday afternoon at 19 Otis St. in Livermore Falls. Cole Berry, 19, was working on his race car when a spark ignited the fuel supply and spread to the garage, Fire Rescue Chief Nathan Guptill said. Crystal Jewell photo

Cole Berry was taken to the hospital as a precaution, Guptill said.

Berry was working on his Toyota Celica when a spark ignited the fuel supply and spread to the garage, Guptill said.

The fire gutted the garage, which Berry built with his late grandfather, Norman Brown. The tools that burned were given to him by Brown and Berry’s late father, Shawn Berry, Guptill said.

Welding and the other tools were destroyed.

Berry’s mother, Kathleen Berry of Livermore Falls, said her son is OK.

“He had some exposure to smoke so they just wanted to make sure his heart and lungs were OK,” Kathleen Berry wrote in a Facebook message to the Sun Journal.

Firefighters from Livermore Falls were assisted by Jay, Livermore and Wilton fire-rescue departments. The fire was reported shortly after 3 p.m.

The Office of State Fire Marshal was contacted.

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