AUBURN – Two men suffered smoke inhalation early Thursday while trying to battle a blaze that ripped through their Old Danville Road home. A firefighter was treated for a gashed hand suffered while helping to battle the 2:30 a.m. blaze.

The family of three at 1329 Old Danville Road was forced to flee their homes as flames tore through the second floor. Fire officials said the blaze started near a woodstove on the first floor but flames quickly moved up through the old Cape.

Donald Haley Jr., who lives in the home with his mother and father, was asleep on the second floor when he woke up to the sound of fire crackling in a nearby room, officials said.

The blaze was burning in a large room where the chimney passes from the first floor to the roof, according to fire prevention officer Lt. Gary Simard. Haley got out of bed to investigate.

“The door to that room was hot and he didn’t open it,” Simard said. “But he could see the flames through the keyhole. He then alerted his mother and father.”

While Kathy Haley called 911, Haley and his father, Donald Haley Sr., went back upstairs to try putting out the fire. It was at that point they suffered smoke inhalation and had to flee, Simard said.

Both men were taken a Lewiston hospital for treatment and later released.

When firefighters arrived, flames were sweeping from the upper floor of the T-shaped home. Crews from Minot, New Gloucester and Lewiston were called to assist Auburn firefighters.

The firefighter who cut his hand on a shard of glass did not require stitches, Simard said.

There are no fire hydrants in the area of the fire so firefighters used tanker trucks.

to get a supply of water to the scene.

“The firefighters did an excellent job, working in extreme cold,” Simard said. “When the guys came out, they were freezing. Then they had to go back in again. They held the fire back pretty well.”

The firefighter who cut his hand on a shard of glass did not require stitches, Simard said.

The second floor of the home was gutted by the fire. The first floor sustained mostly smoke and water damage, Simard said. The house was believed to be a total loss.

Once the fire was out, investigators examined the burned building. Simard determined the cause to be a wooden wall too close behind the woodstove chimney. There were no smoke detectors on the second floor, Simard said.

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