Public Safety

January 14. 2013 12:59PM

4-alarm fire levels chicken coop, guts garage in Lyndeborough

By NANCY BEAN FOSTER
Union Leader Correspondent

A fire on Center Road in Lyndeborough destroyed a chicken coop and gutted a garage. Chickens and cats belonging to the owners, the Stephens family, are still unaccounted for. (Nancy Bean Foster/Union Leader Correspondent)

LYNDEBOROUGH - Heavy smoke and flames drew firefighters from across the Souhegan Valley to a home on Center Road and it appears some cats and chickens may have fallen victim to the fire.

Just after 11 a.m., firefighters from Lyndeborough, Wilton, Milford, Amherst, Temple, Greenfield, Mont Vernon, Francestown and Peterborough responded to the fire at 1196 Center Road. The fire went to four alarms shortly around noon.

It appears that the fire started in a chicken coop at the rear of the house, spread to a two-car garage and into an addition on the back of the house. Rainsford Deware, officer in charge of the Lyndeborough Police Department, said no people sustained any injuries in the blaze, but animals may have been lost.

"There are still cats and chickens unaccounted for," he said. The home belongs to the Stephenson family, Deware said, but the owners weren't available for comment. The chicken coop and the garage appear to be total losses. Firefighters were able to stop the blaze from entering the main part of the home.