WATERVILLE — At least nine people were displaced Tuesday when fire damaged an apartment building at the corner of Summer and Sherwin streets in the city’s South End.
The fire is believed to have started in the area of an attached storage barn and then it spread into an apartment on the second floor and a half-story above it, said Waterville fire Battalion Chief John Gromek, who was at the scene. He said the state fire marshal’s office was called to the scene.
Fire Chief Jason Frost said Wednesday morning the cause of the fire is undetermined.
“It’s not an arson-related case at all,” he said. “It did not have a human element.”
The fire was reported at 4:33 p.m. Tuesday and firefighters were still at the scene more than two hours later.
The address of the apartment building is unusual. Frost said the addresses for units two and three are 16 Sherwin St., while the address for unit one is 2 Summer St.
He said he doesn’t know who owns the building as it is an LLC, but Keystone Management manages it and helped tenants find other, unoccupied Keystone living spaces to stay until they can return to their apartments. The Red Cross also is helping them, he said.
Frost said he was told 15 people live in the building but he is not certain that is the correct number. Tenants at the scene said at least nine people live there and more moved recently into another apartment, but they weren’t sure how many people.
About 30 firefighters from five communities — Waterville, Winslow, Oakland, Fairfield and Skowhegan — responded to the fire.
Firefighters closed down parts of both streets, Gromek said Tuesday, adding that he understood a construction worker from a water main replacement project on Summer Street reported the fire but had left before fire officials could speak with him.
Water supply was an issue for firefighters because hydrants are being used to supply water to buildings on Summer Street as part of the project, he said. Firefighters had to get water from hydrants in other areas, he said.
Frost said Gromek responded to the fire even though he was on vacation. When the fire was reported, firefighters were already responding to multiple calls for ambulances and were helping LifeFlight of Maine with a call, according to Frost.
Tenants stood outside on the lawn and sidewalk Tuesday evening, waiting for the Red Cross to arrive.
Jennifer Levesque, 42, said she lives on the first floor with two dogs, two cats and a bearded dragon lizard. She was at work when the fire started. Her daughter called to tell her about it and she rushed home, she said.
“I ran upstairs and pounded on the door and told them to get out because the building was on fire,” Levesque said.
She notified Julia and Jordan Adkins, 28 and 23, respectively, who live with their four children on the second floor and in the half-story above it, they said. That is the apartment closest to where the fire spread from the barn to the apartment building.
“My whole back wall is down in my daughter’s room,” Julia Adkins said.
Levesque said she was able to get her dogs out of her apartment, but she couldn’t find her cats, which were somewhere in her apartment.
“We’re going to keep the cats there overnight,” she said. “I’m sure they will be all right.”
Frost said the damage to the apartment building and barn is repairable.
