CHINA — A woman whose mobile home in the Weeks Mills area of China was destroyed by fire Wednesday was uninsured and lost everything in the blaze, according to a fire official.
The mobile home at 49 Chadwick Way was engulfed in flames when firefighters responded just after noon, according to Bill Van Wickler, chief of the Weeks Mills Volunteer Fire Department.
Van Wickler said Thursday he did not know the name or age of the woman, but the state fire investigator who responded to the scene has that information. A call Thursday to the Office of State Fire Marshal was not returned.
Van Wickler said he had been told the woman’s furnace was not working, so she was using a couple of electric space heaters for warmth inside the home. She had left the home briefly Wednesday morning to go to a couple of stores and then returned.
“When she came back, the place was full of smoke,” Van Wickler said, “so she called 911.”
He said he was told the woman works as a waitress in Augusta.
Van Wickler said about 16 firefighters responded to the scene from the Weeks Mills, China Village, South China, Albion, Freedom, Palermo and Winslow fire departments.
“We did not enter the structure,” Van Wickler said. “It was unstable. We fought it from the exterior. It was a total loss. She lost everything she owned.”
Firefighters left the scene by midafternoon, he said. No injuries were reported.
Van Wickler said he was told the Office of State Fire Marshal had contacted the Red Cross about helping the woman who was displaced by the fire.
Chadwick’s Way is off Dirigo Road, which is off U.S. Route 3.
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