A Chelsea man said he lost nearly everything over the weekend when fire ripped through the mobile home he once shared with his grandmother.

Joey Cote, 26, said he was in the process of moving out of the home at 21 Windsor Road when the fire broke out around 7:15 p.m. Saturday. Cote said he had removed a bureau and speakers, but his other belongings were still inside.

“Hours after I got that out, it burned,” Cote said. “I pretty much lost everything.”

Cote said he thinks the fire was sparked by a candle lit by his aunt, and “I’m assuming when she went to the dump it caught fire.”

Chelsea Fire Chief Shawn Ramage said Monday that the home was unoccupied at the time of the fire. Ramage on Tuesday was unable to confirm whether anybody still lived in the home, but he said one of Cote’s relatives said someone had moved from the home recently or was in the process of moving.

Cote said he moved into the trailer, which was owned by his grandmother, Audrey Cote, when he was 15. He continued to share the home with her until her death last month.

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“I was working on getting my stuff out,” Cote said.

Cote, who has several family members in the area, is staying with a cousin. He said he received some money from the American Red Cross to buy new clothes. The home was insured, but Cote does not expect to be reimbursed for his lost possessions.

An investigator from the Office of the State Fire Marshal was called to determine how the fire started. Ramage didn’t have the results of that investigation, but he said the fire was not suspicious. A message left with the Fire Marshal’s Office Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Cote said he was at his cousin’s house across the street when the fire started. He said his dog, which usually would have been inside the mobile home, was with him.

“It became engulfed,” Cote said of the home. “The windows were blowing out when we got there.”

Ramage said firefighters knocked down the fire in just a few minutes.

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Cote said the mobile home can’t be salvaged.

“My aunt was going to take it over until it burned,” he said. “Now I don’t know what they’re going to do with it. The only thing that’s left is the bedrooms.”

Craig Crosby — 621-5642

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @CraigCrosby4


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