MECHANIC FALLS – A Mechanic Falls firefighter whose home was heavily damaged by fire says she has been besieged with offers of help from the community.

Jennie Friree heard a smoke detector and got her two children out of the house before it became engulfed in flames Thursday morning. Her husband, a trucker, was working.

Friree is an emergency medical technician and firefighter with the Mechanic Falls Fire Department. She and her husband Eric had just bought their century-old house a year ago.

Friree says she knew every firefighter who came to put out the blaze. She says all she could do was watch as her home went up in flames.