A lightning strike is believed to be the cause of a forest fire in Sidney that destroyed nearly one acre of woods off Gould Pond on Tuesday night, according to the Sidney fire chief.

The fire was reported around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday off Summerhaven Road and is believed to have originated from a lightning strike that hit a tree on Sunday.

“We did find the tree that the lightning hit,” Sidney Fire Chief Richard Jandreau said Wednesday. “We had a pretty good lightning storm that came through, and it had festered a couple days before it got noticed.”

There were no injuries reported and no damage to any buildings.

The fire reignited Wednesday morning but had been extinguished by noon. According to the Maine Forest Service, the risk of fire danger in the Waterville area was high on Wednesday.

“Everything is so dry right now, it’s just unbelievable,” Jandreau said. “It’s good for people to know how dry it is. We haven’t seen a lot (of brush fires), but it is extremely dry and people need to be cautious.”

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Firefighters from Belgrade, Rome, Oakland, Smithfield and Augusta and the Maine Forest Service also responded.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm


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