WATERVILLE — State fire investigators continue to probe the cause of an apartment house fire July 29 at 48 Silver St. that left five people homeless.
“It’s still under investigation,” Sgt. Ken Grimes, of the Office of the State Fire Marshal, said Thursday. “We’re still trying to classify it.”
Dostie Fundraiser
A fundraiser for Dostie family members, who were burned out of their Silver Street apartment house, will be held 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Fairfield VFW post. The cost of admission is $8 per person. The event includes a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction, with auction items ranging in price from $10 to $200. Donations of household items and clothing are being accepted. The event has a Facebook page, facebook.com/events/492855450872241.
The fire destroyed at least one room of the three-story building, according to fire officials. The building remains uninhabitable, according to Waterville fire Chief David LaFountain.
Grimes said July 31 that the scene investigation was complete, but investigators were still reviewing information and interviewing people in the case.
Friends of a family displaced in the fire are planning a fundraiser for Saturday.
Patricia Dostie lived on the building’s first floor, and Dostie’s brother, Jimmy, son James, daughter-in-law Mindy and their 8-month-old baby, Lyrica, lived on the second floor, according to Mary E. Bernier, a longtime friend of the Dostie family.
In an email about the fundraiser, Bernier said Lyrica has been critically ill since birth, “yet she is the happiest baby I have ever known.”
“Everyone is grateful that no one was home during the (fire),” the email said.
Fire officials said at the time of the fire that the family, who didn’t want to be identified, had left shortly before for a doctor’s appointment in Portland. Family members at the scene didn’t want to speak to reporters.
Bernier said the fundraiser will take place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Fairfield VFW post, and the cost of admission is $8.
The fire started in a bedroom of the second-floor apartment and was reported at 1:45 p.m., officials said.
About 30 firefighters from Waterville, Winslow and Oakland fought the fire at the apartment house, which is the fifth building on the east side of Silver Street as one enters from Spring Street.
Fire officials said at the time that the first-story tenant was at work when the fire broke out, and the second-story tenants had left their apartment 20 minutes before the fire was reported, and that they were taking a baby to see a doctor in Portland for a post-surgery checkup.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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