Fire trucks and response vehicles clog the road Monday during a house fire at 272 South Pond Road in Winslow. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
WINSLOW — State officials are investigating a three-alarm fire Monday afternoon that destroyed two structures, displaced a family and burned about an acre of woodlands.
A fire was reported at 272 South Pond Road shortly after 12:30 p.m., Winslow Fire Chief Mike Murphy said, and quickly engulfed a mobile home and detached structure.
The blaze spread into a wooded area beside the home, burning about an acre.
No one was home at the time, Winslow Public Safety Director Leonard Macdaid said at the scene, though a family with two children was displaced.
“The structure’s gone. Total loss,” he said. “No one was inside, thankfully, and their animals appear to have made it out okay.”
Fire danger across Maine was either high or extremely high due to ongoing dry conditions and high wind speeds.
More details about the fire could not be made available as the Office of State Fire Marshal and Maine Forest Service are still investigating its cause, Murphy said, though he doesn’t believe it was suspicious.
“It’s gonna be undetermined for a little bit until they do their investigation,” Murphy said.
Though the fire’s cause is not yet known, neighbor Jeanne Poulin said she heard about a dozen loud bangs before and during the fire.
A police officer and a firefighter assist a person Monday as fire units clog the road during a house fire at 260 South Pond Road in Winslow. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
“Before the firefighters got here, there was a couple big booms, they kept going for a little bit,” Poulin said. “Could’ve been propane tanks.”
She watched the pets run for safety from the mobile home while the fire spread, and took in the family’s cat while the blaze was extinguished.
“He’s a big, fat orange cat, he came running out of there and I took him in immediately,” Poulin said. “It seems like everybody made it out, thank God.”
Firefighters from Waterville, Fairfield, Albion, Clinton, China, South China, Vassalboro, Sidney, Belgrade and Oakland responded to the fire.
Firefighters and investigators remained on the scene for about five hours until around 5:30 p.m., Murphy said.
South Pond Road runs from China Road, which is also Route 137, to Wyman Road near the Vassalboro town line.
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