OTISFIELD — A couple arrived home from visiting a sick relative to find their home, barn and business destroyed Sunday evening.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday, fire crews were called to 624 Route 121 for a report of a barn on fire.

“The back of the barn was already on fire when (firefighters) knocked on the doors,” neighbor Jeff Jacobs said. Jacobs said he called 911 after seeing flames in a barn belonging to Gary and Debby Dyer.

Before long, the barn and two-story, cedar shake-sided home were engulfed as well as a couple vehicles as crews arrived, closing off part of Route 121 while tankers from surrounding towns began a relay of trucks filling up near the Otisfield Fire Department about a mile away and delivering the water to the scene.

Jacobs said the Dyers had two horses and cats in the barn that did not make it out.

“The daughters are devastated,” Jacobs said.

No one was home at the time of the fire, Jacobs said. According to Jacobs, the Dyers were visiting an ailing relative in Bangor when the fire broke out. The Dyers’ three adult daughters live adjacent to the home and barn that were also used as a family business.

The Rev. Genise Stern of the East Otisfield Baptist Church was on hand, tending to the family. Stern said when the Dyers first heard about the fire, all they were worried about was the safety of their daughters.

According to Stern, Gary Dyer was born and raised in the home and never moved away. She said Dyer met his high school sweetheart who lived down the street, married her and the couple had lived there ever since.

“They have a large support system — family around here,” Stern said. “They’re so well known here in this community, they’ll be well taken care of.

“What Gary will tell us on Sunday is this is another bump in the road,” Stern said. “We’ve been over bumpier — we have a deep faith.”

By 8:30 p.m., some lines were being rolled up while crews on the ground and in the Oxford Fire Department tower went to work on overhauling the structures and putting out hot spots in the gutted house.

A fire investigator arrived on scene and, after speaking briefly with the Otisfield deputy chief, went to work around the barn.

As the Dyers arrived on scene, they were met and embraced by family members as well as other members of the firefighting community.

Otisfield Fire Department was assisted by Norway, Harrison, Casco, Poland, Minot, Oxford and West Paris departments and Pace Ambulance.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and remains under investigation. Route 121 was reopened shortly after 10 p.m.

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