A 60-year-old man suffered serious smoke inhalation Monday night when a fire destroyed his home in Randolph, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Richard Messer is being treated at Maine Medical Center in Portland. Fire investigators said the fire started in a metal stovepipe attached to the fireplace in the house at 38 Mill Road in Randolph.

Messer and his wife were home at the time and Messer went back into the house three times to try to save the couple’s cats. Three of them were rescued, but others were not, according to the press release. First responders prevented Messer from going back inside the home a fourth time.

The fire continued to burn at 7 p.m. and destroyed the two-story, log cabin-style home.


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