Fire destroyed this home at 849 Valley Road in Waterford on March 12. (Photo courtesy Bill Haynes)

By Gail Geraghty

Staff Writer

A electric space heater is suspected as the cause of a fire that destroyed an old farmhouse and barn at 849 Valley Road March 12. The owner, Marcel Sol, who lived there alone, was able to escape uninjured after the fire broke out around 5 p.m. The property is located near Melby’s Market and the post office, and that section of Valley Road was temporarily shut down as emergency crews responded.

Firefighters from Waterford, Harrison, Stoneham and Bridgton battled the blaze for hours, but the property was too far gone to be saved.

“The barn and the ellway were pretty much gone when we got there,” said Waterford Fire Chief Adrien Morin. It took seven hours before crews returned to the Waterford Fire Station around midnight, he said.

Dan Young of the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office was on scene that evening, and has still not released an official cause of the fire.