DAYTON — The cause of the fire that destroyed a barn and made a home uninhabitable has been deemed undetermined.

The fire occurred at 82 Union Falls Road, Dayton April 17. The home owners, Ryan and Alycia Loshaw, and their two daughters were not home at the time.

No one was injured, but two pigs and two cats in the barn died as a result of the fire.

The fire started in a barn attached to the house and spread to the home, said Goodwin’s Mills Fire Chief Roger Hooper.

Hooper said Friday the state fire marshal’s office has deemed the fire undetermined. Hooper said it was possibly electrical, but the remains of the barn were too burned to make that conclusion.

“It was a beautiful old barn,” said Hooper. “They don’t make that kind of barn anymore.”

The Loshaws moved into the mid-1800s farmhouse and adjoining acreage last year with the intention of creating a family farm to pass down to their children, said Ryan Loshaw at a press conference the day the

fire occurred.

“You hate to see that happen to any family,” said Hooper.

Ryan Loshaw is a firefighter/paramedic with the Biddeford Fire Department.

An online fundraising campaign started by the Biddeford Career Firefighters to help the family rebuild their home has raised $6,720 as of Monday morning. A separate fundraising campaign that appears to have been created by a close friend or relative has raised $10,720.

“My thoughts are with you,” wrote one online donor. “I am glad to know you and your little girls made it out safe.”

To donate money to the Loshaw family, go to www.gofundme.com/s88ap8 or www.gofundme.com/s7a4v5n4.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].