PERU — An early morning fire Tuesday destroyed a garage and badly damaged a home at 159 Ridge Road, according to Peru Fire Chief Dan Carrier Jr.

When the Peru Fire Department was toned out at 2:58 a.m., the garage was already fully engulfed, Carrier said.

“By the time we got there, we were trying to preserve the house to save what property we could,” he said. “Given the amount of fire, I’m surprised we were able to get that good of a stop on the house, to be quite honest.”

Carrier said the garage was only about 6 feet from the house.

“The crews did a great job, getting there quickly, extinguishing the fire and getting it knocked down before it spread into the house and did even more damage,” he said.

The only occupant was the homeowner, Steve Whalen, who got out safely, though his cat died in the fire.

He said the Office of State Fire Marshal investigated and the cause is believed to be an electrical issue in the garage, which is a total loss.

“His house, with the insurance, is probably going to be a total loss with the water, heat and smoke damage, but he was still able to get out a lot of his belongings and property out of at least one half of the house and the basement at least,” said Carrier. “His kitchen, living room and back room were all on the side of house that suffered the major damage.”

He said Whalen lost two classic cars that were stored in the garage. “There’s nothing left to remodel.”

Carrier said up to 35 firefighters from Peru, Mexico, Rumford, Canton, Dixfield and Jay came to assist with manpower and tankers. “It was a nice save. The guys did a nice job.”

He said the scene was cleared around 6 a.m. There were no injuries.

Carrier said arrangements were made for Whalen for assistance from the American Red Cross.