Firefighters from Gardiner and surrounding communities respond Tuesday to a report of a fire at 18 Fountain St. in Gardiner. Though the fire was extinguished in under an hour, Gardiner Fire Chief Rick Seiberg says but the house is not habitable due to the damage. Photo courtesy of Gardiner Fire Department
GARDINER — A fire that damaged the second floor of a Fountain Street home Tuesday was knocked down before it spread to other parts of the two-story home.
Gardiner Fire Chief Rick Seiberg said the Office of State Fire Marshal is looking into the cause of the fire at the home, which he said had recently changed hands and was converted from apartments into a single-family home.
“It’s not livable right now,” Seiberg said.
The first floor has some water damage, he said, but the second floor has damage from smoke and heat and firefighting activities.
Arrangements were made so the residents, whom he did not identify, could stay in a hotel Tuesday night and they were also connected with the Red Cross. Property records show that Robert Briggs sold the home in September to Kimberly and David Jensen.
Firefighters from Gardiner, Augusta, Togus, Pittston, Randolph and Farmingdale responded to 18 Fountain St. shortly after 11 a.m. Seiberg said the fire was knocked down in about 45 minutes and the mutual aid companies were dismissed.
“We were able to get the ladder truck up in there first and then the engine, and that’s all we needed,” he said.
That stretch of Fountain Street, near the Winter Street end, is very narrow.
No one was injured and all the pets were accounted for, he said.
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