About a half-acre of land burned Friday afternoon in a wildfire that started on a small island in a Belgrade pond and which state officials say was caused by an illegal campfire.

The fire started late Friday afternoon on a tree-covered island in Hamilton Pond. The small body of water sits near the intersection of routes 27 and 135, in view of Christy’s Country Store.

The blaze burned about a half an acre before it was contained by local firefighters and a member of the Maine Forest Service, said Chief Daniel MacKenzie of the Belgrade Fire Department.

MacKenzie said Monday he did not know what caused the fire or who reported it to authorities, but he thinks it may have been spotted by a pilot from the Maine Forest Service. That pilot used a helicopter to dump water on the island before firefighters arrived, MacKenzie said.

On Saturday, the Maine Forest Service announced on Facebook that the fire was caused by an illegal campfire and shared a photo in which a blue-and-white tent can be seen at the scene.

It’s not clear if anyone has been charged in connection with the fire, which required about four hours of work to be extinguished. The Facebook post did not identify any suspects, and the forest ranger who investigated the burn was not working on Monday, said a spokesman for the agency.

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To get to the island, firefighters drove down to a camp on Keene Drive and took boats across the pond, MacKenzie said. To provide water, they brought a floating pump, a forestry pump and a backpack full of hoses.

Charles Eichacker — 621-5642

ceichacker@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @ceichacker


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