CORINNA – Frances Thompson of Paradise Avenue answered his doorbell Thursday afternoon to find his garage on fire.

Thompson had gone into the garage, which is attached to his home, a few minutes earlier and started his snowmobile, according to Fire Chief Alan Clark. Thompson shut the machine off and went back into the house.

“Somehow the snowmobile caught on fire,” Clark said. The fire burned through electrical wires and shorted out the doorbell, making it ring and alerting Thompson to the emergency.

Thompson was able to pull the snowmobile out of the garage. Clark said that helped firefighters stop the blaze from spreading to the home. The snowmobile and the garage were the only damaged items.

Clark said 14 firefighters responded to the blaze, along with aid by Dexter and Newport fire departments.