Three homes were destroyed by separate fires over the weekend in the Somerset County towns of Skowhegan, North Anson and Palmyra, with the families of two of the homes losing everything.
In Skowhegan on Sunday night, a fire destroyed an unoccupied, two-story house on North Avenue that was being renovated, Skowhegan fire Chief Ryan Johnston said.
While no one was living in the house at 257 North Ave., the owner had been working on it for a while, Johnston said Monday. He said he understood the home had been in the family for quite some time.
The fire was reported just before 8:30 p.m. and the Office of State Fire Marshal was called to help determine a cause. Skowhegan police and Redington-Fairview General Hospital Ambulance crews were at the scene, and the Skowhegan Highway Department sanded roads. Firefighters left the scene just before midnight Sunday, according to Johnston.
Between 30 and 35 firefighters from Skowhegan, Norridgewock, Fairfield, Waterville, Madison, Cornville and Canaan responded to the fire, and Clinton firefighters stood by the Skowhegan station, Johnston said.
A fire Saturday at 586 Lang Hill Road in Palmyra destroyed a single-family home and everything in it, said St. Albans fire Chief Paul Doughty.
The fire was reported at 8:05 p.m. as an electrical fire. When firefighters arrived, the house was engulfed in flames and strong wind gusts complicated fire suppression efforts, Doughty said. He understood that four adults and two children lived in the house. Two people suffered minor injuries, he said.
“Thankfully, the occupants had self-evacuated before we arrived,” Doughty said Monday.
As of Monday morning the cause of the fire was undetermined, but the Office of State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause, Doughty said.
He said cold temperatures and water supply issues also hindered firefighting efforts. As the night wore on, water turned to ice, causing unsafe conditions, and trucks and water pumps began to freeze, Doughty said. Temperatures were in the teens and single digits Saturday night into Sunday morning.
More than 60 firefighters responded from St. Albans, Hartland, Corinna, Canaan, Dexter, Newport, Plymouth, Detroit, Dover-Foxcroft and Skowhegan, and the last firefighters left the scene around 2 a.m. Sunday. Pittsfield firefighters stood by the St. Albans station.
Doughty said dispatchers were invaluable, as all his communications during the evening and early morning hours for aid and other issues went through them.
“The Somerset Regional Communications Center assistance was critical for the efforts we made in fighting this fire,” he said.
In North Anson, a fire reported at 1 p.m. Saturday on Winter Street destroyed a home and resulted in the deaths of two dogs and three cats, said Deputy fire Chief Jeremy Manzer, who was commander at that scene.
Contacted Monday, Anson fire Chief Stacy Bean, referring to Manzer’s report, said the home was an older, two-story wood structure with additions.
The family of at least two adults and one child was not home when the fire broke out, and they lost everything in the fire, the report stated. The Red Cross was called to help the family, whose home wasn’t insured, according to the report.
More than 40 firefighters responded to the fire from Anson, Madison, Starks, Farmington and Solon. Anson-Madison-Starks Ambulance was on scene. The state Office of State Fire Marshal was called to help determine the cause.
A call placed Monday to Canaan fire Chief Charles Worcester regarding a fire on Nelson Hill Road reported Monday morning was not immediately returned.
