DIXFIELD — A dog was rescued from a burning home at 34 Third St. on Monday afternoon and revived, but a cat and three kittens perished.

Firefighters from Dixfield, Rumford, Mexico and Peru worked for hours to extinguish flames in the single-family dwelling owned by Sue Mills. Mills, her boyfriend Phillip Zinck and her son Troy Kimball were not home when the fire was reported at about 12:30 p.m. by neighbor Linda Hebert.

Hebert, who lives at 30 Third St., said another neighbor first noticed flames coming from the home.

Kimball was notified about the fire through social media and came home in time to rescue the family’s pit bull mix dog from his kennel in the house, Hebert said.

Mariya Coulombe of Rumford with her dog. She and two employees of the Irving station in Dixfield performed CPR on a dog rescued from a burning home at 34 Third St. Rumford Falls Times/Marianne Hutchinson

Kimball asked bystanders and neighbors for help with CPR for his unconscious dog. Mariya Coulombe of Rumford, who was visiting a friend on Third Street, gave the dog CPR with the help of two Irving station employees from the nearby store. The dog was revived and brought to the veterinarian for further treatment.

A cat and her three kittens died in the fire, Zinck said.

Dixfield Fire Chief Scott Dennett said the fire appeared to have started on the ground floor and when firefighters arrived more than half of the building was burning.

“It appears there’s no open flame going on, any wood stove or anything like that,” he said. “It’s pure speculation at this point if I tried to answer” how the fire started.

He said an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office will be at the scene today.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

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