Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

Second fire in hours destroys Norridgewock home

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

NORRIDGEWOCK — A fire believed to have started from hot embers falling out of a fireplace onto the floor early Sunday gutted a house at 271 River Road, according to fire officials.

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DOUBLE FIRE: Edward Hastings, an investigator with the state Fire Marshal's Office, walks around salvaged items belonging to Matthew Fine at his home that was gutted by two accidental and separate fires Sunday on River Road in Norridgewock.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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This was the second fire to occur at the home of Matthew Fine within 81⁄2 hours.

A fire started around 9:30 p.m. Saturday in a garage attached to the house and that fire was caused by improper disposal of smoking materials in the trash inside the garage, according to Edward Hastings, an investigator with the state Fire Marshal’s Office who was at the scene Sunday morning.

Firefighters Saturday night put the garage fire out and the house itself received some smoke damage, according to fire Captain Steve Ireland.

“We put it out, we left and then again this morning, we got toned out for a fully-engulfed house fire,” he said.

That tone was at 5:52 a.m. The house, and not the garage, was on fire, he said.

Hastings said Central Maine Power Co. had turned off power to the house Saturday night. After the garage fire was put out, Fine stayed at the house and was using a wood fireplace to heat the entire house, Hastings said.

He said hot embers falling out of the fireplace onto the floor “probably” caused the house fire.

“Basically, with our investigation, we cannot exclude the hot embers having fallen out as the cause,” he said, adding that that is consistent with what fire officials found at the scene and with what the homeowner told them.

Hastings called the fire accidental.

More than 30 firefighters from Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield responded to the fire early Sunday; around 28 firefighters from Norridgewock and Skowhegan worked at the scene Saturday night, Ireland said.

The home, a single-story, wood-frame house, was heavily damaged, he said. “It’s pretty well gutted.”

He said firefighters reported some items in the home may be salvageable.

Ireland praised the firefighters who worked on the fire.

“Thank goodness for volunteers,” he said. “It worked out well.”

Skowhegan’s RFGH EMS (ambulance) was at the scene Saturday night and returned Sunday morning, and the Norridgewock highway department crew sanded and blocked off the road Sunday, according to Ireland.

While firefighters worked at the scene Sunday morning, they were diverted to Mercer at 7:29 a.m. for a report of a chimney fire on Main Street, he said.

Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com