PITTSON — Two people suffered dog bites that required a trip to the hospital as firefighters investigated a reported fire at an East Pittston Road home Sunday.

Assistant Chief Mike LaPlante of the Farmingdale Fire Department said a dog that lived at the home and was agitated bit a woman and a teenage girl who were trying to calm it. The teen girl was taken by ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center with a bite to her hand and wrist, LaPlante said. The woman was expected to go to the hospital via a private vehicle.

The names of the bite victims were unavailable.

Events began to unfold around 11:05 a.m., Sunday when neighbors reported smoke coming from a house at 672 East Pittston Road. Pittston Fire Chief Jason Farris, referencing oral reports of the fire, said firefighters arrived to discover a pellet stove had malfunctioned and filled the house with smoke.

“It was smokey, but (firefighters) did a good job figuring out what it was an mitigating the problem before it became a structure fire,” Farris said.

Firefighters from Pittston, Farmingdale and Randolph responded to the fire report. Crews used fans to clear the smoke. There was no permanent damage, Farris said.

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LaPlante said nobody was home when the fire broke out, but firefighters arrived to find a car in the driveway and assumed there might be someone inside. Crews began preparing to fight a full fire while others searched the house for people and the source of the smoke.

At some point, two dogs that lived at the house got out, LaPlante said. One of the dogs was quickly corralled to a pen in back of the house. The second dog became agitated. The woman and the teen, both of whom live in the nighborhood, tried to calm the dog and were bitten in the process, LaPlante said.

The second dog was quickly corralled back to the pen with the first dog.

The dog, which LaPlante said was defending its home rather than showing random agression, was released back to the homeowners.

Police who responded to the initial report of a fire said there were not charges in the incident.

 

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmainetoday.com


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