HARTFORD – Two dogs and a cat were killed Monday afternoon when a fire destroyed a temporary one-room home on Dakin Lane.
Killed in the fire were a Chinese Shar-Pei named Haly, a Labrador retriever named Luke and a cat named Nacomie.
Hartford Fire Warden Norm St. Pierre said the 12-by-16-foot structure belonged to Julie and Willy Weimouth and was not insured.
Also lost in the fire were a stove, wood stove and futon-type couch/bed, and all the couple’s personal belongings.
Willy Weimouth, 44, said he erected the building in September and that he and Julie, 48, were going to build their house this summer.
“I had all my building permits ready,” Willy Weimouth said. “I was going to build my house. We were just staying in that until this summer.”
Dillon Pomerleau, 9, who lives across the road from the Weimouths, discovered the fire.
He reported it to his mother, Candace, who called emergency officicals.
“When we got there just a few beams were standing,” St. Pierre said. “The roof and walls were gone and the propane tank had just purged.”
St. Pierre said the Weimouths were in Rumford registering their vehicles.
He said it is believed that the fire started when a couple of buckets of ash near the stove were probably knocked over by one of the dogs.
“The structure was not that old,” St. Pierre said. “The leech bed had just been finished and the septic was not hooked up yet.”
He estimated the loss at about $8,000.
Julie Weimouth is employed at the Wal-Mart Super Center in Auburn.
Several hours after the fire, store manager Mark Loy announced that employees had already raised $100 for her, and the store was contributing a $500 gift certificate.
He said there would be a potluck supper fund-raiser Friday for employees, and Saturday the store would have a cookout at the garden center to raise funds from the general public.
Loy said the store would be accepting donations at its layaway department for Julie Weimouth and her family.
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
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