ORRINGTON — A man driving down the River Road around 1:30 a.m. Friday noticed flames shooting into the air from the backside of a two-story white home and called emergency 911 for help.

The man also stopped and banged on the door to wake up the homeowners, who escaped, but not with-out injury, Fire Chief Mike Spencer said later Friday morning.

“Two of the three [residents] had burns” and all suffered from smoke inhalation, he said. “They took themselves to the hospital” and were gone before fire crews arrived.

When firefighters, who come from Brewer, Bucksport, Dedham, Eddington, Holden and in town, ar-rived at 876 River Road, “very heavy fire was coming from the rear of the building,” some reaching some 60-feet into the night air, Spencer said.

“It was like fire tornado,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the crews on scene. Everybody just worked so well together. I haven’t seen that much fire in a long time.”

William Cotter owns the home and lives there with two other adults. Sgt. Tim York, of the State Fire Marshal’s Office, said that their injuries were not life threatening. However, “they were admitted” into Eastern Maine Medical Center, he said.

Fire investigators determined an accidental electrical problem in a rear living room area caused the fire, which left the home extensively damaged.

Two fire investigators responded to the scene and another was sent to the hospital.

The area where the fire started was a rear addition.

“It was completely gone,” he said.

The home had been remodeled “so many times there is ceilings on top of ceilings and there was a lot of hidden areas” for the fire to fester, Spencer said. “It was an incredible stop by the fireman on scene.”

About 30 firefighters responded to the call for help and no injuries were reported, he said.

One bird was found dead inside the home.