ST. ALBANS — A fire that started near a wood stove destroyed a home Thursday night on McNally Road.
The fire was reported around 5:30 p.m. Thursday and when firefighters arrived at the scene, the three-story house at 62 McNally Road was engulfed in flames, St. Albans Fire Chief Jason Emery said.
The home belongs to John Seavey and his wife. On Friday, Seavey was sifting through the remains of his home for items he could save and take to the couple’s camp on Big Indian Pond, where he said they plan to stay at least temporarily.
His wife was visiting relatives out of state when the fire broke out.
He said although they lost their four cats, they have insurance and consider themselves to be in a better situation than others who have lost their homes to fires.
In addition to destroying the house, the fire also destroyed the urn that held the ashes of the couple’s son, who died in a car accident about 18 months ago.
Seavey had left the house around 1 p.m. Thursday to run errands and had left the wood stove on, Emery said. A relative later notified him the house was on fire.
“He filled it up and left to run some errands, and it went downhill from there,” Emery said.
Firefighters were able to get the fire under control in about an hour and a half and remained on scene until around 9 p.m. They returned Friday morning to make sure some hot spots had not rekindled.
No injuries were reported. Firefighters from Corinna, Dexter and Hartland also responded.
Staff photographer Michael Seamans contributed to this report.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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