WATERVILLE — Five people were displaced after fire overnight Friday into Saturday tore through a three-family apartment building on Front Place in the city’s downtown area.
About 40 firefighters responded to the scene and put the fire out by 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Ryan Cote, D shift battalion chief, fire inspector and investigator for the Waterville Fire Department.
Later Saturday morning, just before 7 a.m., about a dozen firefighters were back at the scene because the fire had rekindled.
Firefighters return to the scene of an apartment fire at 6 Front Place in Waterville that had rekindled Saturday morning, after initially responding to the blaze during the overnight hours. Five people were displaced by the fire at the three-family apartment building in the city’s downtown area. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel
The Office of State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, which was unknown as of early Saturday morning.
The fire was reported at 11:56 p.m. Friday at the building, a two-story, yellow apartment house on Front Place, which is off Front Street, not far from the Kennebec River. Waterville’s fire station is just around the corner from the scene, at the intersection of College Avenue and Main Street.
Crews battled the blaze into the wee hours Saturday morning. Firefighters from Waterville, Winslow, Fairfield and Skowhegan responded to the initial fire, according to Cote, and there were no injuries reported.
Firefighters return to the scene of an apartment fire at 6 Front Place in Waterville that had rekindled Saturday morning, after initially responding to the blaze just before midnight. Five people were displaced by the fire at the three-family apartment building in the city’s downtown area. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel
On Saturday morning the back part of the building where most of the fire occurred was a mass of charred debris.
Cote said in a release earlier Saturday that when firefighters arrived at the scene, heavy fire was showing from three sides of the building. A second alarm drew Winslow and Fairfield firefighters, as well as the Skowhegan Rapid Intervention Team, to the scene, and Oakland firefighters covered the Waterville station. All of the occupants of the building were out and accounted for, according to Cote.
“Crews were able to quickly knock the fire down, thus preventing any spread to neighboring buildings,” Cote said in the release.
The state fire marshal’s office was on scene around 3:15 a.m. Saturday and the Red Cross had been called to help the displaced tenants, he said.
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