MADISON — A fire that heavily damaged a home on River Road was followed a day later by a second fire at the same home that destroyed it, a fire official said Friday.
Madison Fire Chief Don French said firefighters were first called to the property at 132 River Road, a large farmhouse with an attached garage, about 4:30 a.m. Thursday.
Flames on the first and second floors had damaged about 25% of the home, French said. The two-alarm fire was extinguished in about a half-hour after drawing a mutual-aid response from firefighters in Anson, Norridgewock, Skowhegan, Solon and Starks.
None of the three people living there were inside at the time, although one was sleeping in a camper van on the property, French said. He was not hurt.
“That fire, we believe, started with improper disposal of smoking material,” he said.
Crews stayed at the scene until around 7 a.m. to check for hotspots, French said. The chief and a colleague returned twice to the property that day to ensure that the fire was extinguished, he said.
“There was nothing out of the ordinary at that point,” French said. “There were people in and out of the structure all day; there was no rekindling.”
The residents left to stay with a friend overnight, he said. “It could have been salvageable and probably fixed up,” French said.
But on Friday around 3:30 a.m., firefighters were called out a second time to the property. By the time crews arrived, the home had burned to the ground, he said.
It’s not clear how the home caught fire a second time, he said.
The Office of State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the second fire, he said. Shannon Moss, a spokeswoman for the fire marshal’s office, said Friday that an investigation is ongoing but had no additional details to share.
The Red Cross was called in to relocate the residents of the home.
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