NORWAY — A cooking accident ignited a fire that destroyed one of the town’s oldest houses Wednesday afternoon.

The Jonathan Swift House at 6 Patch Mountain Road was “a total loss,” fire Chief Dennis Yates said Wednesday night.

He said a male, who Yates declined to identify, escaped unharmed.

Owners Edward and Jill Gabrielsen and their children, Eva and Eli, watched as flames consumed the 2½-story farmhouse and attached barn that stretched an estimated 100 feet.

It was built in the early 1800s, Norway Historical Society President Susan Denison said. According to town records, the home and property are assessed at $181,000. It is unknown if the property was insured.

Fire departments from a dozen towns battled the flames racing through the six-bedroom home, which is just off the Morse Road.

A family dog was believed to be inside the home at the time of the fire and its whereabouts was unknown, Jill Gabrielsen, a pediatrician who practices in Norway, said at the scene. Her husband, who teaches yoga at the Healthy for Life Wellness Center in Norway, and their children were with her at the scene.

Fire departments from Norway, Paris, Oxford, Waterford and West Paris, and Pace ambulance, were called just after 1 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing a plume of thick, dark smoke in the area. Departments from Poland, Mechanic Falls and Hebron also responded.

Some firefighters were brought to the scene by an Oxford Hills School District bus, which also had several children on board who were being dropped off at the end of their first day of school.

Because there are no hydrants on the mountain, a water tank was set up near the intersection of Morse Hill and Patch Mountain roads to augment water being hauled in from tankers. A second water access was set up on Greenwood Road.

Cases of water were brought to exhausted firefighters on a PACE ambulance stretcher and by hand.

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