Sometimes growing means going.

Woodbrook Animal Clinic will leave Wiscasset for Woolwich early next summer, in a move that will quadruple the clinic's space and about double the six-person staff, owner-veterinarian Tammy Doughty said.

Ground was set to break this week just across the Woolwich line, at a Hunnewell Lane site where firefighters burned an old home on October 20.

Doughty donated the long-vacant, two-story home for Sunday's burn, which served as training for area departments. Firefighters from Woolwich, Wiscasset, West Bath and Arrowsic took part, along with the Woolwich Emergency Medical Service.

The exercise covered all aspects of working a fire scene, from traffic control to fire behavior and using pumps, Woolwich Fire Chief Geoffrey McCarren said.

Until next year's move, it will be business as usual at Doughty's Wiscasset clinic. She has leased the building for her business for several years, after first opening Woodbrook Animal Clinic at another leased, Wiscasset building in 2005, on Route 1.

The woods and brook near that spot inspired the clinic's name of Woodbrook; the current location, on Wiscasset's Mountain Road, is also near woods and a brook, as is the Woolwich site.

The clinic will keep its name when it makes the move, Doughty said.

Being in Wiscasset allowed her to establish and build up the practice, she said. “It's taken years to get to this point.” But the clinic has outgrown its current space, and the move just a few miles south will help to add clients from the Bath-area.

This time, she isn't leasing; Doughty has bought the Woolwich property. Just off Route 1 near the Montsweag Flea Market, the location will offer easy access for people trailering large animals.

Although the Woolwich resident is looking forward to seeing the new building go up, Doughty said it was also sad to watch as fire consumed the wood-frame home that had stood there at least a century.

Onlookers reminisced about the home and about people they had known who once lived there, she said. “There were some tears.”

Hay and wooden pallets were placed inside the building for a series of planned fires that were to be part of the exercise. Letters painted on the building's sides were the same letters firefighters say during structure fires, to distinguish which side they're talking about.

Preparations took weeks, Woolwich Emergency Medical Service Director Bill Longley said as firefighters went in and out of the building before the burn got under way.

“I love to see these departments working together,” said Heidi Howe of the Woolwich Fire Department Auxiliary. The group planned to provide the firefighters with lunch.

Doughty delivered coffee and doughnuts for the crews. Another donation she is making will be long-lasting: The veterinarian said she is giving each of the four fire departments a set of three different-sized oxygen masks to use on pets in emergencies.