Two wildfires, each covering more than 100 acres, continued to burn Thursday night in different parts of the state, but no one was injured and no homes or other property had been damaged, forest service officials said.

One fire that had burned just over 200 acres in Lubec was still burning near several homes Thursday night, but Regional Forest Ranger Jeff Currier said rangers met with homeowners Thursday and told them they won’t have to be evacuated.

The wildfire, which burned woods and fields off Boot Cove Road, was set by an arsonist Wednesday night, but Currier said authorities do not have any suspects. It was located about two miles from the village of Lubec.

“It’s about 60 percent contained and that’s pretty decent for a fire of this size,” Currier said Thursday. “I don’t expect it will grow over the next 12 hours.”

Firefighting operations, which included about 20 firefighters on the ground and a Maine Forest Service helicopter dropping water on the fire, were suspended Thursday night but would likely resume Friday morning.

The other wildfire burned more than 100 acres Thursday off Jackson Road in Searsmont, in Waldo County. Firefighting operations there were also suspended Thursday night and will resume Friday morning. There were no reports of injuries and it was unclear whether any homes or other property were threatened.

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Currier said a 200-acre fire such as the one in Lubec is big, but not as large as some of the fires Maine rangers have battled in Western states, which can burn thousands of acres.

The National Weather Service’s red-flag warning, which means that conditions are ripe for a forest fire to start, had been in effect for days, but was lifted Thursday evening.

“We will cool down on Friday and it won’t be as dry,” said Mike Cempa, a meteorologist with the weather service in Gray. Portland could see high temperatures in the 50s on Friday.

The next chance for rain will be Monday.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com


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