Community members are pulling together to support a New Vineyard man and his young son who lost everything in a fire Tuesday night that destroyed their New Vineyard Road home.

Co-workers of Chris Bourque have set up an online gofundme.com account and an account at the Franklin-Somerset Federal Credit Union, where people can donate money to help Bourque and his 6-year-old son, Curtis, get back on their feet.

Bourque did not have insurance on the house, and most of the family’s personal belongings were destroyed in the blaze.

Fire crews were called to the two-story farmhouse at 9:30 Tuesday night and fought for hours to put out the fire, according to Fire Chief Doug Churchill.

A friend of Bourque was watching his son and reported the fire, Churchill said. No injuries were reported and the family’s dog escaped the house, but two or three cats are still unaccounted for, he said.

About 40 firefighters from nine departments responded to the scene, Churchill said.

According to Sgt. Ken Grimes of the Office of State Fire Marshal, the fire was started by ash from the wood stove that was put in the barn attached to the house.

Within a day of the fire, Bourque’s coworkers at the SmartStyle hair salon in the Farmington Walmart started a campaign to help Bourque and his son.

Bambii Richards, one of the other stylists at the salon, started a gofundme.com page aiming to raise $15,000 for Bourque on Thursday morning, and by 5:30 p.m. the site had already collected $772.

Michelle Church, the manager at SmartStyle, said Thursday evening that the credit union had also set up a checking account under Bourque’s name where people can make donations, rather than contribute through gofundme, which takes a percentage of the money donated.

Donations of clothing, toys or games can also be made at the salon at 615 Wilton Road in Farmington.

“They lost everything,” Church said.

Homeowners with wood stoves should make sure that ashes are completely cold before disposing of them. Surrounding ash can insulate a coal for up to a week, keeping it hot enough to burn other material, even though it seems to be cold, Grimes said. People should dispose of ash in a non-combustible receptacle, like a metal bucket, and make sure to keep it in a safe place or wet the ash to make sure any remaining coals are extinguished, he added.

Peter McGuire — 861-9239

pmcguire@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @PeteL_McGuire

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