NORWAY — Two people were able to get out their burning home Tuesday night minutes before the second floor collapsed, Norway Assistant Fire Chief Ryan Fox said.

He was the first firefighter to arrive on the scene in a hilly and remote neighborhood, and by then the house was engulfed in flames.

“Report of a fire came in that started on the back deck of the house at 64 French Road,” Fox said. “By the time I arrived the fire had spread to the home. Within five minutes the house was fully involved and within 10 minutes the second story of the building collapsed.

“The occupants got out in the nick of time,” he said. “There was also one cat in the house that has not been accounted for.”

Fox said, “There were several explosions between small propane tanks and ammunition going off. There is one 250-pound propane tank off the back of the house that took our immediate focus.”

The fire was reported at 5:31 p.m.

The Red Cross was called to assist the residents.

Firefighters set up tankers to pump water from Herrick Brook on Morse Road less than a mile from the scene. More than a dozen trucks were lined up along Morse and French roads and by 7:15 p.m. they began refilling them, one at a time.

“As of now it is a two-alarm fire and I have at least 35 firefighters on the scene,” not including those at support stations,” Fox said Tuesday evening.

Fire departments from Norway, Paris, Otisfield, Waterford, Harrison, West Paris, Buckfield, Woodstock, Greenwood, Bridgton and Sweden responded to the blaze.

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