VIENNA – A Vienna firefighter rescued Jeremy Meader’s dog and saved his snowmobile and tools as flames consumed his new home and threatened his garage on Route 41 on Wednesday night, fire Chief Steve Lilley said Thursday.

“He did a very good job,” Lilley said, referring to firefighter Josh Markham, who lives two doors down from Meader’s two-story home. “He got the dog out” of the house, he said, and then he drove Meader’s year-old snowmobile out of the two-bay attached garage, and brought out “a bunch of tools.”

Meader, who is in his 20s, was not at home when the fire broke out shortly before 9 p.m., said Lilley, who lives two doors from Meader in the opposite direction from Markham.

When Meader arrived at the scene to see his home burning, “He was really worried about his black lab. He thinks the world of that dog,” the chief said.

Lilley said the fire started in the cellar, which had a woodstove, but a cause has not been determined. The Office of the State Fire Marshal is assisting in the investigation, he said.

First responders found the 26-by-32-foot house engulfed in flames, and when they left about 1 a.m. all that was left was a shell, the chief said.

“It was a nice new expensive house, a beautiful home,” he said, with a finished basement.

An estimate of the loss was not available Thursday night, and it was unknown if Meader had the property insured.

Meader is staying next door with his father, James Meader, Lilley said.

Nearly four dozen firefighters from eight towns battled flames, keeping them from completely overtaking the garage, the chief explained. One wall of the garage was damaged.

Between 26,000 and 28,000 gallons of water, most of it hauled from from Crowell Pond, was pumped onto inferno.

Assisting Vienna were fire departments from Mt. Vernon, Readfield, Fayette, Wayne, Manchester, Belgrade and Chesterville.

NorthStar Ambulance, Mt. Vernon Rescue and Central Maine Power Co. were also at the scene.

It was the first major blaze of the year in Vienna, Lilley said.