SOLON — Carolyne Surma was in her kitchen mixing up the ingredients for a pumpkin pie Tuesday morning when she heard a loud cracking from upstairs.

“I heard the sound of glass shattering, and I ran upstairs to see the room full of smoke,” Surma said. “I grabbed my keys, my pocketbook and the dog and ran out. I looked for the cat, but I couldn’t find her.”

Alicia Lumbert, left, and her mother, Carolyne Surma, second from left, watch with friends and family as Surma’s house was destroyed by fire Tuesday morning. Surma said she was in the kitchen baking a pie for Thanksgiving when the fire started upstairs. The family built the home after another one burned down in 1994. Staff photo by Rachel Ohm

Firefighters watch as flames and smoke destroy a house and garage beloning to Ernold Lumbert and Carolyne Surma at 63 Dube Lane Tuesday morning. The damage was too extensive for the state fire marshal to investigate, but fire officials said the cause does not appear to be suspicious. Staff photo by Rachel Ohm

By 10 a.m. the fire at 63 Dube Lane had engulfed the house that Surma shares with her husband, Ernold Lumbert. It was the second time in 21 years the family lost a home to fire.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, and the house and connecting garage were destroyed, Solon Fire Chief Duane Rollins said Tuesday afternoon. The Office of the State Fire Marshal will not be investigating because of the extent of the damage.

The fire’s cause is not considered suspicious. It’s believed to have started upstairs in the house, Rollins said.

Meanwhile Lumbert and Surma and their family watched Tuesday morning as their house went up in flames along with most of their possessions, including the belongings of Lumbert’s father, who died a few months ago.

“All they know is that it started upstairs,” said Alicia Lumbert, the couple’s daughter. “They’re absolutely devastated.”

The family built the house themselves after a fire in 1994 destroyed another home that they owned, also on Dube Lane. That fire originated in a wood stove, they said.

“I don’t even know what I looked like as a baby, since all our pictures were lost in that fire,” said Alicia Lumbert, 33. “It’s the kind of thing you don’t expect to ever happen in your life, let alone happen twice.”

Lumbert said she was at work when she got a phone call about the fire. “I flew over here driving about 90 (mph) because I didn’t know if they had gotten out.”

She said her parents have insurance and will stay for now at her house, which also is in Solon.

“My father is just devastated, especially since he also just lost his dad a few months ago and all his belongings were in there. Those are things you can’t replace,” she said.

Shawn Surma, Carolyne Surma’s son, said a neighbor knocked on his door Tuesday morning and told him his mother’s house was on fire.

“I’m not really sure how it could have happened,” he said. “They were so impeccable about safety. After going through that once, you don’t want to go through it again. I was just shocked.”

Surma said both his mother and his stepfather are disabled, but that Ernold Lumbert had a large garage attached to the house from which he ran a contracting business. He still enjoyed working on family cars, said Surma, who described Lumbert as a workaholic.

“This is just going to devastate him. (The garage) was his therapy,” Surma said.

The cat, Little Girl, hasn’t been found since the fire.

“I ran around quickly to look for her, but I just couldn’t find her,” Carolyne Surma said. “There was so much smoke.”

The family had been planning to have Thanksgiving at the house as well.

“I can tell you right now we won’t be having Thanksgiving at my house,” she said.

“Everything is gone, including all her recipes,” her daughter said.

Surma was able to save her car. She said a man who told her he was a firefighter from New Hampshire and was passing by saw the smoke and was the first person to get there. He took her keys and pulled the car away from the house.

“I wanted to thank him, but he took off on me,” she said. “I didn’t even get his name.”

Firefighters from Anson, Athens, Bingham, Cornville, Madison, New Portland, Skowhegan and Solon went to the scene.

“It was a big house and a big garage,” Rollins said. “We had a lot of people here working together.”

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm

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