DURHAM – An early morning fire destroyed a barn on Newell Brook Road in Durham on Nov. 15.

According to Durham Fire Chief William St. Michel, the home at 174 Newell Brook Road was undergoing renovations and no one was home when the fire broke out sometime around 1:30 a.m. St. Michel said the fire was called in by neighbors and the building was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene. No one was injured in the fire and St. Michel said firefighters were on the scene until 6:30 a.m.

One of the home’s owners, Max Harvey, was at the scene as firefighters went through the wreckage of the barn checking for any lingering fire or hot spots. Harvey said when he arrived at the scene, the barn was already gone. “When we got here, it was just like it looks now,” he said.

The house was built sometime around 1799-1800, Harvey said and the barn was attached to the home until recently when a breezeway connecting the two buildings was removed during the renovations. A Durham firefighter at the scene said the removal of the connecting breezeway likely saved the house from damage.

“The house got a little singed on the end, but it didn’t get damaged,” Harvey said.

Some farming equipment belonging to a neighbor and materials from the renovation were destroyed in the blaze, Harvey added, saying that while the renovations to the undamaged home would continue, he wasn’t sure when, or if the barn would be rebuilt.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state Fire Marshall’s office, St. Michel said. Crews from Lisbon, Pownal, Freeport, Topsham, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham provided assistance to the Durham firefighters at the scene and the New Gloucester fire department provided station coverage, St. Michel said.

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