WEST GARDINER — Fire forced a Melissa Drive couple out of their home early Wednesday morning.

Firefighters from six area departments responded to extinguish the fire, which officials said appears to have started in the attic and spread into the rafters of a Cape-style home owned by Bobbie Trask, who lives there with her boyfriend, at 64 Melissa Drive.

“It spread up into the rafters. It looked like it had been burning for quite a while before we got there,” West Gardiner Fire Chief Gary Hickey II said. “When we first got on scene, smoke was pushing out of the eaves. There was a little fire on the first floor. We were able to knock it down pretty quickly and cut a hole in the roof to ventilate it.”

Hickey said the home sustained significant smoke damage and moderate water and fire damage. He said the home is not currently livable and will require some work before the owner can move back in. Hickey said he was unsure whether the couple had a place to stay, and the American Red Cross has been contacted to assist, if needed.

He said the home was insured.

The fire was reported around midnight and was out by 2 a.m.

The couple was alerted to the fire by smoke detectors and left the home. No injuries to them, or firefighters, were reported.

The Office of State Fire Marshal was contacted and an investigator went to the scene Wednesday to try to determine what caused the fire.

Firefighters from Gardiner, West Gardiner, Farmingdale, Pittston, Randolph, and Litchfield responded to the emergency call.

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