Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
MELTED MESS — Firefighter Phil Clooney was among the 18 responders who fought a blaze in-between two structures on Charles St. that partially melted the siding of one of them. According to the fire department report, a juvenile may have accidentally started the fire last Friday by not properly extinguishing a cigarette.
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
HOULTON — The admission of a juvenile to smoking and possibly not extinguishing a cigarette properly may have been the cause of a fire on Charles St. late Friday morning, according to a report by Fire Chief Milton Cone.
Apparently the fire started in-between two separately owned properties where the juvenile was smoking. The fire raced up the dry foliage, partially melting the siding on one property and damaging the next door homeowner’s free-standing storage building she referred to as a barn.
Ruth Goldsmith, the homeowner at 12 Charles St., said she was “flabbergasted. There’s nothing in that barn. There’s no electricity, no power. There’s nothing in that barn to start a fire.”
As Goldsmith watched the firefighters douse the barn and toss out what appeared to be a rug from the upstairs window, she said: “I haven’t got a clue. I came outside to take the dog for a walk, looked up and there was a fire on the side of the barn. I grabbed the hose and called the guy who was driving by to call 9-1-1.”
According to fire department records, a call went in at 11:45 a.m. Three trucks and 18 firefighters — three drivers and 15 volunteers — responded along with an ambulance and the water company as a precaution.
Cone was on scene with his firefighters and just after noon said “the flames were knocked down at this point. We’re checking for hot spots.” By 12:14, about a half hour after arriving, the fire was officially under control.”
Before a source of the fire was determined, Goldsmith said she, too, wanted to know how it started. “None of my kids smoke. All I saw was flames on the side of the house and I continued to spray until the fire department came. They came fast. They’re great.”
According to a spokesperson for the fire department, there is no estimate on the damages to the two properties and there is no ongoing investigation.