WAYNE — Firefighters from nine towns spent almost four hours Saturday afternoon battling a barn fire that spread to several acres of a field and then to the woods just off Berry Road.

No one was injured in the fire, which was reported at 2:21 p.m., in a former brooder building on the property of Phyllis Woodsum.

Wayne Fire Chief James Welch, who was at home less than a mile from the fire scene, said he could see smoke and then when he arrived at the scene the building was ablaze.

The origin remained undetermined Saturday night. Welch said an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office would be checking into it.

Maine Forest Ranger Bill Cusick called in a helicopter to survey the extent of the fire from the air, Welch said.

He said the two-story, 30-by-40 foot building was used to store boats and antiques.

Advertisement

Berry Road neighbor Ford Stevenson said Saturday his father built the brooder house in the 1950s.

“We used to raise baby chicks there,” he said.

In the late 1960s the property was sold to the Woodsums, he said.

Welch said the wind apparently blew sparks from the fire some distance into the woods, which kindled the blazes there.

“We used backpacks, ATVs and four-wheel-drive forestry vehicles,” Welch said.

Firefighters responded from Wayne, Fayette, Manchester, Winthrop, Readfield, Mount Vernon, Vienna, Leeds and Livermore Falls.

Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.