Fire Marshal’s Office to help determine cause

UPDATE: Firefighters extinguish fire at Camden home, second time in three weeks

Thu, 12/06/2018 - 7:45pm

Story Location:
250 Main Street
Camden, ME
United States

    CAMDEN – Camden firefighters, along with the help of Rockport, Lincolnville, Rockland and Hope fire departments, quickly extinguished a fire that broke out in a home at the corner of Central and Main streets in Camden just before 7:30 p.m., Dec. 6. The same home had sustained damage from a fire just three weeks prior in the same kitchen area, on Nov. 18.

    That fire was ultimately determined to not be electrical in nature, said Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley, Dec. 10. It was considered accidental.

    The Dec. 6 fire, he said, is believed to have an electrical origin, he reported, following an investigation of the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office.

    Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley said the Dec. 6 fire was developing when the firefighters arrived, and while it was in the kitchen area of the old house, heavy smoke was filling the structure and pouring out of the attic.

    Rockport firefighters, who had been conducting cold water training in the pond at Maine Sport, arrived quickly to help Camden, as did Lincolnville and Rockland fire departments, the latter bringing its tower truck. Hope Fire Department covered the Camden Fire Department at the Camden station.

    In total, approximately 40 area firefighters responded, with engines and equipment. A  brief snow squall that fell across the region just before the fire made for slick roads and sidewalks.

    The Dec. 6 fire ignited in the same area as the Nov. 18 fire. (See: Afternoon fire in Camden home attributed to kitchen stove wiring.)

    The home, in downtown Camden, is one along a stretch of old structures sitting close to each other, and whose construction dates back to the late 1700s. Its owners have been in the process of renovating the building.

    The Dec. 6 fire was was doused with water, and firefighters then circulated through the building in teams, donning oxygen masks and knocking down any residual fire before exiting and changing oxygen tanks.

    Firefighters cleared the scene by 9 p.m. but for a skeleton crew and the chief, waiting for an investigator with the state fire marshal’s office to drive down from Bangor and help determine the origin of the fire.

    More details will be added as they become available.