No one was hurt in a fire Saturday that destroyed a duplex at 21 Varney Road in Freeport.
Fire Chief Darrel Fournier said a cat and dog died in the fire but three other cats survived.
Fire departments from several towns responded to the fire, which was reported at 11:35 a.m.
Fournier said the building was almost a total loss.
Two families were displaced but a private fire restoration company, Paul Davis Restorations, found both of them a place to stay and managed to retrieve some of their clothes that were unscathed by the fire.
Fournier said the fire started in the kitchen area of one side of the two-story duplex where no one was home at the time.
He said the occupants on the other half of the duplex heard the fire alarm go off next door, discovered smoke coming out of the building and called for help.
About 45 firefighters from Freeport and surrounding towns battled the blaze, which spread rapidly to the second floor after the fire blew out a set of sliding glass doors and a kitchen window on the first floor.
Fournier estimated the damage at about $550,000. He said the building is owned by Freeport Housing Trust. Fournier said the fire alarms in the building helped prevent further damage.
Fournier said the State Fire Marshal’s Office is helping to investigate the cause, which does not appear suspicious.
Greg Ballou and his wife Ardelle lived in the side of the duplex where the fire started. The names of the other tenants were not immediately available.
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