DURHAM – A 40- by 70-foot garage and contents were destroyed in a fast-moving fire at 151 Auburn Pownal Road late Wednesday afternoon, but firefighters managed to save the nearby wood-frame house.

Fire Chief Bill St. Michel said Roland Poulin Jr. was home when the blaze started about 5 p.m. He suffered burns to his hands trying to extinguish it before firefighters arrived but declined immediate medical attention, St. Michel said.

When Durham firefighters arrived the garage was engulfed so they focused on saving the house, St. Michel said.

The heat melted shutters, the meter on the side of the house, telephone box, and damaged two TV dishes. The vinyl on the windows as well as the curtains and shades were melted, he said, but firefighters managed to keep the fire from spreading to the large wood frame home.

Among the items lost in the fire were tools, various pieces of equipment, a van, generator and a woodworking shop. An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s office is expected to inspect the scene in the morning. St. Michel declined to speculate how the fire started or dollar loss to the building until after the fire marshal’s inspection.

Responding to the scene were firetrucks from New Gloucester, Freeport and Pownal, along with three trucks from Durham; Durham’s First Responders, Northeast Ambulance and the Salvation Army’s mobile feeding unit. Trucks from Lisbon and Lisbon Falls filled in at the Durham station. The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department was also at the scene.

The fire was brought under control in about 45 minutes, and mop-up operations took about three hours.