PERU — A garage at 244 Tower Road was gutted by a fire just after noon on Monday.
Fire Chief William Hussey said an investigation by the Office of State Fire Marshal shortly after the fire determined the cause was electrical.
He said the 30- by 40-foot garage is owned by Greg and Nicole Carter. Their home is located at short way from the garage, Hussey said. At the time of fire, the alpacas raised on the farm were across the road and were not injured.
The chief said the building was “gutted pretty bad, but it’s up to the owner if he’s going to try to redo it.”
Hussey said Greg Carter does woodworking and had a lot of tools, equipment and dried lumber in the building, which were all lost in the fire. Nicole Carter is a writer for the Advertiser Democrat.
He said there were no injuries and it was a good coordinated effort by firefighters from the towns of Peru, Dixfield, Rumford and Mexico to put out the blaze.
Hussey said this location was very isolated and on a steep road. Firefighters used Worthley Pond as the water supply for battle the fire.
Firefighters also had to work around a downed live electrical line until Central Maine Power arrived to shut the power off.
Power to the house was turned back on around 5 p.m.
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