GARDINER — A smoke alarm might have saved a home at the corner of Dresden Avenue and Cottage Street from serious damage early Wednesday morning.
The owner of the home was about to leave for work when he heard the alarm and noticed smoke in the second floor of the home, said Al Nelson, chief of the Gardiner Fire Department. The owner reported the fire to authorities at 7:29 a.m., according to the dispatch log.
Working in heavy rain, firefighters from Gardiner and several other area departments were able to contain the damage to a bedroom and the attic of the home at 182 Dresden Ave.
“We were able to get to it pretty quick,” Nelson said. “The damage was confined to the attic and that back bedroom. It all went pretty well. Thankfully (the homeowner) hadn’t left for work yet, because if he would have left for work before anyone had seen this, we would have had a big fire.”
Dresden Avenue and Cottage Street were blocked as the firefighters responded, but by 8:30 a.m. the responders began returning to their stations.
The fire started in the attic and spread to a bedroom on the back side of the two-story house, Nelson said. It was probably the result of an electric malfunction, Nelson said. After firefighters responded, they noticed a wire lying on a truss in the attic, which appeared to be the most damaged part of the home.
The structure probably would be habitable, but Nelson said the bedroom and attic would have to be repaired. They sustained smoke, water and structural damage.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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