NEWPORT — Just hours after extinguishing a fire that displaced five people on Park Avenue, officials had to respond to a report of a brush fire that sent one person to the hospital with serious burns to his arms.

Newport Fire Chief Jeff Chretien said the fire at the two-story building at 42 Park Ave. started shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday. While the second-floor tenants were not home at the time, Chretien said, a woman with four children, three of them her own and one she was watching, occupied the first floor. One of the children said there was a fire in the bedroom, and when the woman checked on it, she found the bed fully engulfed in flames. The fire apparently started from a charged tablet.

Chretien said the woman shut the door to the bedroom and exited the building with the children, then called 911. The fire was extinguished within 10 minutes, but firefighters spent another half hour looking for hot spots.

A Disaster Action Team from the American Red Cross is assisting the people displaced by the fire to ensure they have the essentials. The Red Cross will remain in contact with them to provide financial assistance and community referrals over the next several days.

Then about 11:30 a.m. firefighters were called to 255 Golf Course Road, where a 21-year-old man had been injured in a brush fire.

Sgt. Scott Richardson, of the state fire marshal’s office, said he didn’t have the man’s name but said he was not a resident of the farm where the accident happened.

Apparently, a large amount of brush had been piled up to be burned, and the man put “a large amount of gasoline” on the brush. He apparently had a 5-gallon can with him, but Richardson said those at the scene didn’t know if he had used the whole can, as they were unable to find it. Richardson said witnesses at the scene saw the man light a stick and then toss it into the brush pile.

“It ended up flashing back,” Richardson said.

The man suffered second- and third-degree burns on his arms and other burns on his face, which Richardson said weren’t as bad because flames were blocked by a baseball cap. The man was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, and was taken later to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Richardson said the man’s injuries appeared not to be life-threatening.

Colin Ellis — 861-9253

cellis@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @colinoellis