The community is rallying around the Allen family of Scarborough, who lost their home in a devastating fire on Thanksgiving Day.

Fire Chief Michael Thurlow said this week the State Fire Marshal’s Office has not yet released its official report on the fire. But, he said it was accidental and started in the kitchen, near the stove.

“It was likely due to human error by not realizing the stove wasn’t turned off while cooking when the power went off due to (the Nov. 26 snow) storm,” Thurlow said.

Thurlow said the home, located at 34 Woodfield Drive and assessed at $384,000, is likely a “total loss,” but luckily the family was not home at the time of the fire and no one was injured.

As of Monday afternoon more than $5,300 had already been raised for the Allen family on gofundme.com, a fundraising website. In addition, on Monday evening a benefit was planned for the family at Romeos Pizza & Sports Pub.

Lee and Kristin Allen and their two children have lived in the home a little more than 10 years. This week the Allens said they are not sure how badly their home was damaged in the fire, but did say that “damage to the house and personal belongings is significant.”

The family, which is staying with friends in the neighborhood, is hoping to find a home to rent in the area and would like to be settled in sometime this week, if possible.

“We are still coming to terms with being displaced from our home,” the couple said in an email. “It’s not about the material things, but we love our beautiful home – our children have grown up (there), and it is part of our family. To drive up to it and see it in its broken condition is so heartbreaking. But, as we accomplish little things each day, we know that we are that much closer to getting our lives and home back to normal.”

The Allens also said, “We can’t possibly thank all the firefighters and policemen and women enough for the sacrifices that they make day in and day out, but especially on a holiday to respond to our emergency to ensure our safety and well-being. We are forever in their debt.”

As for the community’s response to their loss, the couple said, “We are incredibly humbled by the outpouring of support from family, friends, neighbors, businesses and people that we don’t know who have reached out to help us. The support for us is overwhelming and certainly makes a difficult situation easier to bear.”

They added, “We would like to extend extra thanks to our neighbors on Woodfield Drive for contacting the fire department and for standing with us when we arrived at the scene to help us cope with this terrible reality.”

“We are so grateful to live in this wonderful community. Between the emergency responders, neighbors, community clubs and groups, friends and countless other members of this community, we appreciate the thoughtfulness (and) support and can’t thank everyone enough,” Lee and Kristin said.

Thurlow said that in addition to the Scarborough Fire Department, firefighters from South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Buxton, Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Westbrook and Hollis “either provided coverage or responded to the scene.”

He said the most important message people can take from this fire is “to use caution over the holidays while cooking and decorating.”