Six tenants were evaluated at the scene for smoke inhalation after fire destroyed a multi-family home on Gamage Avenue in Auburn on Wednesday.

The blaze started in the back of an attached barn and worked its way toward the front of the building, said Fire Investigator David O’Connell.

An excavator sifts through the rubble of a two-family home at 220 Gamage Ave. in Auburn on Wednesday to help inspectors determine the origin of an early-morning fire that destroyed the building.

Fire damage caused the second floor of the home and a chimney to collapse.

“The good thing was there were smoke alarms inside the building and they alerted the tenants,” he said.

The first-floor tenants carried renters’ insurance, but the second-floor tenants did not, he said.

Firefighters recovered a pet cat from the home.

Brad Sloat, the building’s owner, said the fire left the building unsafe, and an excavator arrived to take down what was left of the structure. There were antique cars stored in the garage, but Sloat said he didn’t know if they could be recovered from the building.

Owner Brad Sloat, right, talks to firefighters Wednesday morning about the condition of the house he owns at 220 Gamage Ave. in Auburn Firefighters were still hosing down hot spots after 9 a.m.


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