CANAAN — A fire raced through a single-family home Wednesday afternoon on Hinckley Road, destroying the house and injuring a homeowner, who suffered minor facial burns and singed hair.

The fire at the home of Jeanna and Ezra Holt appeared to have started with an electrical malfunction in a wall, their daughter, Brittany Sisco, said at the scene. She said the family is close and that most of the work on the house and neighboring shop, including the milled interior wood paneling, was done by her father.

“My dad has built this whole place from the slab up with his own hands,” she said. “Him and my mom — just many, many years of memories, seeing everything come together, and it’s just gone in a matter of minutes.”

An urn containing the ashes of her late brother, Billy Holt, who died last year, was retrieved from the house by Canaan Fire Chief Todd Bowden and delivered to family members as fire crews continued to mop up the scene two hours after the fire started.

Sisco said her father suffered some facial burns from an explosion — possibly of an air compressor or a propane tank inside the home — as he re-entered the house trying to rescue the family’s cat. He was not successful in finding the cat, which by 2:30 p.m. was still unaccounted for.

Fire crews and trucks from Canaan, Hartland, Skowhegan, Fairfield and Clinton battled the blaze, which was reported about 12:30 p.m.

“It’s devastating,” Sisco said. “Everything is so devastating right now. My mom lost a hope chest, I think, with pictures — oh my God — pictures from way, way back. I’m guessing it’s lost. It was back where the main fire was.”

She said her parents have worked for years building and expanding the house and a redemption center and Christmas wreath making shop next door. Ezra Holt, 64, a longtime Morning Sentinel newspaper carrier, was treated in an ambulance at the scene for minor facial burns.

Bowden said the fire scene was too busy Wednesday afternoon for him to stop and comment on the fire’s cause. A Canaan fire captain said he was not authorized to talk about it. A call to the Office of the State Fire Marshal was not returned immediately Wednesday afternoon.

Sisco, 28, said the family was insured. She said her mother is an employee at Good Will-Hinckley and that the school has offered accommodations for her parents until they can make other arrangements for housing and rebuild the home.

A truck with a pulp loader ripped the metal roof off the house once the fire was out, revealing a smoky, blackened interior.

Sisco said the house was custom-designed and built by her father with a large ground floor and wide doors for her mother, who they knew would need to use a wheelchair one day. The sprawling home had bedrooms upstairs, and recently a new downstairs bathroom was installed.

Sisco said the wreath shop next to the house was not damaged, but given the fire and her father’s stroke last November, the wreathing making business might have to be put on hold.

“My dad has been making wreaths for a good 30 years. Every single fall we’ve been doing this,” she said from inside the shop. “This is where we live for a good month and a half out of the year. It’s so nice, it’s cozy and it smells like Christmas.”

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

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Twitter:@Doug_Harlow