ROME — A weekend fire that began in a car spread before destroying a home on Nickerson Lane, the Rome fire chief said Tuesday.

The Rome Fire Department received a call just before 5 p.m. Sunday about a garage fire, Chief Gary Foss said. It was determined that flames from the car spread to the two-story, attached garage in which it was parked, he said. The three-story home was then engulfed.

Nickerson Lane is off Route 225 near Great Pond.

The garage had three bays and when Foss got to the scene two of them were already consumed by the flames, which were shooting from the roof of the garage, he said.

The fire in the garage was contained in about a half-hour, he said. But it had already spread to the house and firefighters didn’t leave the scene until after midnight.

Foss said he spoke with one of the homeowners afterward who said that his wife had come home and complained that the brakes in her car felt hot. The man went to the garage, saw the car smoking and went inside the house to get the keys to move it. By the time he came back, the garage had already caught fire, Foss said.

The couple was able to exit the home and were not injured, Foss said.

Numerous fire departments responded to assist Rome, including Belgrade, Norridgewock, Oakland and Smithfield.