FARMINGTON – A couple and their pets escaped injury Tuesday after a fire that started in their garage spread to a nearby shed that was attached to their house at 816 Knowlton Corner Road near the Chesterville line.

A Farmington firefighter was treated at the scene after steam got under his hood and burned his ear. He was back to work shortly after helping to clean equipment, Fire Rescue Chief Terry Bell said.

More than 45 firefighters from Farmington, Chesterville, East Dixfield, Wilton, Jay, New Sharon and Temple and 15 trucks, including two ladder trucks, responded to the 8:45 a.m. blaze. Water was shuttled from a dry hydrant in North Chesterville.

Homeowners Stafford and Christine Ringer were home when the fire broke out.

John Rackliff of Damariscotta, who was watching firefighters quell the blaze, said he was visiting his father, Nelson, when they saw the garage on fire and helped get the Ringer’s cat out of the house.

The fire came close to the house, Bell said, but firefighters were able to stop it from reaching it.

The garage was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, he said, and they started working on the exposed shed first to prevent flames from reaching the house. Only one wall of the shed was damaged, Bell said.

“We didn’t even have to cut the power,” Bell said.

The fire is not suspicious. It is believed it could have been started by a Monitor heater that was in the garage, Bell said.

An insurance agent happened to be at a house next door and looked out and saw the fire and came over to check it out, he said.

It took firefighters about two hours to get the fire out and return to the station, Bell said.