LEWISTON – Flames gutted a Dow Avenue home early Thursday and for a longtime Lewiston fire chief, a lot of memories went up in smoke.

Fire crews spent two hours battling flames shooting from the upper floor of the home after they were sent there about 3 a.m.

After quelling the blaze, firefighters returned later Thursday morning after an American Red Cross worker reported smoke coming from inside the already damaged home.

Frederick Ream, the owner of the home, awoke to fire and escaped without injury. By the time firefighters extinguished the blaze, much of the lower section of the house was filled with water, hampering the investigation. The cause of the blaze remained unknown Thursday night.

Michel Lajoie, chief of the Lewiston department until 2006, went to Dow Avenue after he was told his childhood home was burning.

“My daughter called and told my wife, ‘Dad’s old house went up in flames,'” Lajoie said. “I was born right there. I was the last of five children, and I came 15 years after the last one. My mother swore up and down that this was the baby she was not going to have at home. But guess what? It didn’t happen. Mikey was too quick.”

Lajoie was born in the house and then lived there until 1971 when he got married and moved into his own house in Lewiston. He said the house at 1 Dow Ave. was built in the 1920s.

“There’s a lot of history there,” he said. “I still have my childhood memories. It was sad to see it burn, but there was no loss of life, and that’s the important thing.”

Lajoie joined the Lewiston Fire Department in 1974. He became chief 20 years later and remained at the helm until 2006 when he retired.

As he stood on Dow Avenue, watching firefighters he used to command, Lajoie noticed an oddity at the front of the building, one which rekindled his memories.

“I noticed the screen door still had an L on it,” he said. “An L for Lajoie.”

The early morning fire destroyed much of the two-story house and the contents. It was one of hundreds Lajoie has witnessed in his long career.

“There’s nothing more devastating than a fire, I really believe that,” he said. “But you can replace the material things. If everyone walks away with their lives, that’s what’s important.”