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NORRIDGEWOCK

Family loses home to fire

Children were getting ready for school when one smelled smoke, alerted mother

BY DAVID LEAMING, Staff Writer

NORRIDGEWOCK -- Two separate fires destroyed one home and damaged another Tuesday morning.

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GONE: The charred remains of a mobile home where Robert and Kelley Robertson and their children escaped after fire quickly leveled the home Tuesday morning on the Smithfield Road in Norridgewock. Fire also damaged another home in town earlier Tuesday.

Staff photo by David Leaming

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A family of four lost their mobile home and possessions after a fire believed to have started near a clothes dryer swept through the home at 185 Smithfield Road, Norridgewock Fire Chief Dave Jones said.

No injuries were reported in either fire and neither is considered suspicious, Jones said.

The family, Robert and Kelley Robertson and their two sons, escaped their burning home carrying pets and little else after one of the boys smelled a burning odor from a wood addition in the rear of the home.

The fire was reported around 7 a.m., Jones said.

The house, located beside the home of Kelley Robertson's father, Allen Hartsgrove, is now a black and crumbled pile of metal, household items and kids' toys. "It was a total loss when we got there," Jones said.

Hartsgrove said his relatives left the home carrying two pet guinea pigs and a gerbil after one of his grandsons alerted his mother of the smell of smoke while the children were getting ready for school.

"They lost everything, including two all-terrain vehicles and tools," Hartsgrove said.

Hartsgrove said when he came out to see the commotion, flames were 10 feet in the air. "Windows started blowing out from the walls," he said.

The family is being helped by the Red Cross with temporary lodging and the home is insured, Hartsgrove said.

He added that at one point firefighters hosed down a portion of his home as heat and flames destroyed the nearby mobile home.

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday firefighters were also called to the home of Kurt Frederick on the Bombazee Road, according to Jones.

Jones said the fire started in the basement when clothes drying near a woodstove ignited. "Fire caused damage, but the home is liveable and can be repaired," Jones said.

He added that the fire burned up through a vent hole that leads to the first floor living room.

"There was more smoke and heat damage and the home is salvageable," Jones said.

David Leaming -- 861-9255

dleaming@centralmaine.com