POLAND – A Wednesday night fire tore through a garage on Elm Street as firefighters from several towns battled to save a nearby house.

The blaze at 50 Elm St., near the Mechanic Falls line, was reported at about 8:30 p.m. When fire crews arrived, the large truck garage was engulfed in flames.

Firefighters from Poland were joined by crews from Oxford and Mechanic Falls who battled to keep flames from spreading to a single-family home next to the burning building.

The garage and home are owned by Archie Sawyer, whose sons Steve and Joshua live there. Nobody was injured in the fire but flames gutted the garage. An hour after crews responded, a firefighter reported the building was about to collapse.

Poland fire Chief Mark Bosse said later in the evening that a vehicle, tools and antiques burned in the fire. The garage was considered a total loss.

The chief said crews were able to save the house in part because a number of firefighters were in the area training when the call came in.

“If we hadn’t been where we were, the house probably would have been gone, too,” Bosse said. “It was an outstanding job by all.”

Poland fire officials planned to begin investigating the cause of the fire late Wednesday night. The State Fire Marshal’s Office was expected to send an investigator to the scene Thursday morning.