Fire destroyed a house and attached garage at Wilshore Farm, 85 Hurricane Road in Falmouth, early Thursday morning.

Doug Shores, the owner of the house, was sleeping at his girlfriend’s house next door when he woke up at 2:20 a.m. and saw his home on fire.

“There were flames from one end of the garage to the house,” he said. “The whole field was orange. It was intense.”

Fire Chief Howard Rice Jr. said one of his firefighters who lived down the road from the farm “stepped outside and he could see the glow from his house.”

Rice said that when firefighters arrived on the scene, the fire was already consuming the house and garage, so they focused on keeping it from spreading to two large barns nearby.

A large snowbank next to the garage helped prevent a barn about 20 feet away from catching fire, Rice said. Two horses in the barn managed to get out on their own.

Shores was able to get his pickup truck out of the driveway and rescue a snowmobile. However, three vehicles and a tractor were destroyed in the four-bay garage.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office sent an investigator but the damage was too extensive to determine a cause, Shores said.

Shores said he lost many personal items, including trophies he and his father had won in car shows and racing. However, the most poignant loss was the urn that contained the ashes of his mother who passed away right after Christmas.

The house, which Shores grew up in, is insured and nearby silos and a barn were not affected.

Firefighters spent about 5½ hours at the scene and because there were no hydrants they used five tanker trucks to supply water to fight the fire. At 7:30 a.m., one engine was still at the scene, putting out hot spots.

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