BELGRADE – Police say a man whose body was found early Wednesday morning at the scene of a house fire here appears to have taken his own life.

The Kennebec County Sheriff’s Department says members of the Belgrade Fire Department went to a fire at a Whispering Pines Road home at about 6:55 a.m. and found the body of a man later identified as 35-year-old Scott Newman. An initial investigation indicates that Newman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Other evidence indicates that the fire was set deliberately.

Officials say the Belgrade Fire Department and the Kennebec County Sheriff’s deputies responded quickly but were unable to resuscitate the victim.