By Lisa Williams Ackley
Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — A woman and her teenage daughter escaped their rental home on Smart’s Hill Road with minor injuries, when a fire broke out there, Monday afternoon.

The house, which is located near the Lovell town line, was leveled by the blaze and is a total loss, according to Fryeburg Fire Chief Ozzie Sheaff.

THE CHARRED REMAINS — of a house on Smart’s Hill Road that was leveled by a fire Monday afternoon in Fryeburg was torn down soon afterward, according to Fryeburg Fire Chief Ozzie Sheaff. (Eric Gulbrandsen Photo)

“The 13-year-old daughter got a little smoke inhalation, and the mother, Michelle Rocco, got little singes on her hair,” Fire Chief Sheaff said March 1. “They were transported, for safety precaution, by Fryeburg Rescue to Bridgton Hospital where they were treated and released.”

Sheaff said the cause of the fire is not considered suspicious, but that two investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office have labeled the origin as “undetermined.”

Firefighters from the Lovell Volunteer Fire Department and the Saco Valley Fire Department provided mutual aid to the Fryeburg Fire Department, after the blaze was reported shortly before 1 p.m. on Feb. 28, Sheaff said. A total of 45 firefighters responded, said Sheaff.

The one-story house with a cathedral ceiling and walkout basement was totally engulfed, when fire-fighting personnel arrived on scene, Sheaff said. The house is owned by Rick and Sherry Luciano, according to Sheaff, and was insured. However, the fire chief said he did not know whether or not the Rocco family had their household belongings insured. The family was being assisted by the Amercian Red Cross, according to Sheaff.

“It was more than half gone, when I got there,” Fire Chief Sheaff said of the lost structure. “It had a lot of laminate beams.”

“We didn’t attempt to go inside, as the front wall and the peak (of the roof) were leaning in toward the fire,” stated Sheaff.

Asked if there were any problems encountered, the fire chief said, “It had been snowing, and the snow had turned to a misty rain. The road hadn’t been plowed yet, so two people used their pick-up trucks to plow the road all the way to the burning house for us.”