HAMPDEN – A fire that gutted a house on Hermon Pond Tuesday morning was the result of faulty wiring, according to Hampden Deputy Chief Mike Andersen.

Owned by Carol and Blaine Harvey, the house at 73 Fowlers Lane is occupied by tenants who insisted that their names not be given out, Andersen said.

No people were home at the time, according to the deputy chief, who said a cat was found dead from smoke inhalation and a dog was discovered unharmed beneath a bed.

“As smoky as that place was, I’m surprised the smoke didn’t get there,” said Andersen.

The fire, which was contained inside the house, started after a wire that ran underneath the wooden door frame between the bathroom and laundry room shorted out, according to Andersen.

The door frame had been nailed on top of the wire, pinching it so that it made enough heat to melt the insulation.

“There was a hole a couple of feet across where the fire burned down through the floor and took off inside the house and went up from there,” Andersen said.

Bangor and Hermon fire departments also responded to the alarm

Carol Harvey, who lives nearby, reported the fire around 11:15 a.m. after she drove past the house and noticed the blackened windows and smoke pouring from the roof.

The Harveys, who began renovating the house when they purchased it 23 years ago, moved out about five years ago in search of larger quarters, Carol Harvey said.

The one-story building had been used as housing at the former Dow Air Force Base in Bangor until the previous owner moved it to its current location for a summer camp, she said.

Gathering with other neighbors to watch the firefighters work, Carol Harvey said her tenants had been distraught over the pets that remained in the house and had taken refuge at a neighbor’s house.

Residents of the close-knit little community situated on a cul-de-sac overlooking the pond always are there for each other, said neighbor Cindy Boudreau, who was offering steaming cups of coffee to firefighters and onlookers.

“We’re the pond people,” she said with a smile.