A fire that started with faulty wiring in a whirlpool tub destroyed a renovated Raymond farmhouse May 22, leaving six people homeless and untold hours of hard work wasted.

But the blaze was also a lesson in cooperation, said the fire chiefs from Raymond and Gray, whose crews blended seamlessly to fight the fire at 133 North Raymond Road.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 2:30 p.m., alerted to the fire by two students who had seen smoke after getting off a schoolbus. The house, an old farmhouse renovated by owner Tony Clement, was fully engulfed in flames when emergency personnel arrived, said Raymond Fire Chief Denis Morse.

“The house is a total loss,” he said.

Clement, his wife, and four children were not home at the time, Morse said. The family is staying with friends and relatives in the area, he said. They could not be reached for comment.

The fire spread quickly through the home, Morse said. Typically, a fire in an old structure like the Clement’s farmhouse can build in the walls, unnoticed until it is too late.

“Picture this at 2 a.m. in January and it would have been a whole different situation. Had they been asleep, this could have been a very tragic situation,” said Morse.

Clement had done extensive renovations to the farmhouse since moving in a few years ago, Morse said.

“He’d spent a lot of energy and really took a lot of pride in his work,” he said.

The initial call was answered by the Gray Fire Department because of confusion over whether the address was in Gray or Raymond. Upon arrival, Gray Fire Chief Ricky Plummer set up command.

“Obviously, we don’t stop at the town line,” Plummer said. “We keep going.”

When Morse arrived, rather than relieve Plummer he decided to focus on safety issues, circling the house to see if there were any problems that were being overlooked by the firefighters engaged with the blaze. That kind of cooperation is going to become more common as towns look to share resources, the fire chiefs said.

It makes little sense to switch command in the middle of an emergency “just because it’s my town,” said Morse. “It’s called continuity of care. EMS has been doing it for years.”

With local fire departments stretched thin on personnel, joining forces is essential in overcoming the lack of manpower, Plummer said.

“We know each other and we trust each other,” he said.