MONROE — The town’s fourth major fire since December left six people homeless early Thursday morning and destroyed a home and a family business on Harley View Drive.

No one was injured, and no one was home when the alarm was sounded shortly after 3 a.m. at the Debbie Fiske residence. But Monroe Fire Chief Rick Ames said he and firefighters had more than a few anxious moments on arriving at the fully involved fire at the home because they were unaware the building was empty.

They initially thought the family might still be inside, according to Ames, who acknowledged the experience was scary and would almost certainly have resulted in multiple fatalities had the family still been in the house.

“When we arrived, we did not know that, and six fire departments couldn’t have saved that place, it was so far gone when we got on scene. We were able to save the garage, but there was no saving the house. It was totally engulfed. It’s a cellar hole,” the chief said Thursday afternoon.

Ames said he learned from friends of the family at the scene that the family was away when the fire broke out. The American Red Cross said two adults and four children — ages 17, 14, 11 and 9 — lived there.

The family members returned as the fire was being fought, he said, and a neighbor, Anna Lippard, said they all appeared to be accounted for.

“I was up at 6, and it looked like they were all standing out there,” she said. Ames said when firefighters left the scene about 8 a.m. Thursday, “they were with friends at the end of the driveway.”

Debbie Fiske’s business, Knight’s Tax Service, was destroyed in the fire. Neighbors, fire officials and town officials could not say by late Thursday where the family was planning to stay Thursday night.

An American Red Cross spokeswoman in New Hampshire said the family had been given money for food, bedding and clothing. She said donations to the American Red Cross at P.O. Box 2528, Concord 03302 would be used to help future fire victims throughout the state.

Since winter, fires have heavily damaged an egg farm and one home in Monroe, and destroyed two other homes. Asked Thursday if he thought the fires in the small Grafton County town south of Littleton were related, or were of suspicious origin, Ames replied, “There’s no indication of that.”

Powerful thunderstorms late Wednesday downed utility lines and knocked out power to numerous locations, including Harley View Drive, he said. The chief said the cause of the latest fire is not known, but there were likely power surges in the area over several hours, and the return of electrical power to buildings can sometimes result in problems that trigger fires.

The development of some 30 homes on Harley View Drive, off Route 116, dates back to the 1970s, according to Ames and the neighbor, Anna Lippard.

Lippard said, however, a couple of houses, including the Fiske residence, predated most of that construction.

Firefighters from Woodsville and Barnet, Vt., joined the Monroe department at the scene, while the Wells River, Vt., Fire Department provided coverage at the Monroe and Barnet fire stations, Ames said.

bhookway@newstote.com