RUMFORD — For the second time in six days, firefighters from several towns were needed to battle a structure fire in Rumford.

Early Tuesday morning, about 40 firefighters from Rumford, Mexico, Dixfield and Peru battled a fire in an unoccupied building at the corner of Oxford Avenue and Cumberland Street, best known as the former home of Rita’s Laundromat.

Fire Chief Bob Chase said that when the Rumford and Mexico fire departments were alerted, just after 3 a.m., there was smoke and some fire coming from a second-story window of the 25 Oxford Ave. building.

But by the time firefighting equipment got to the scene, Chase said, “the fire was already through the roof” and that’s when the Dixfield and Peru fire departments were called in.

By 8 a.m., an excavator was on site tearing down the fire-damaged portion of the building because it was “not safe to go in or to leave standing,” said the chief.

Chase said the State Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate with the help of photos of the blaze provided by the fire department.

Another structure fire that occurred Thursday night destroyed a home at 411 South Rumford Road.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net


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