Investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office are trying to determine the cause of a fire that badly damaged a three-story house at 1 Victoria Lane in Falmouth on Sunday night.
The fire was reported at 10:11 p.m. and when crews arrived there was heavy fire coming from the second floor, Fire Chief Howard Rice Jr. said Monday.
The homeowner had been in the house earlier in the day and returned home to find it on fire, he said. The house wasn’t being lived in at the time. Rice said there had been some cleaning earlier in the day but he was unaware of any other work.
Firefighters entered the building but couldn’t get onto the second floor because the blaze had burned a hole in the floor near the top of the stairs, Rice said. Instead, they had to fight the fire from above, which made it challenging, he said.
“Half of the building is pretty well gutted. We were able to contain the fire to that half,” Rice said. He did not know if it would be considered a complete loss.
Crews from Portland and Cumberland were called to help battle the fire and because the nearest hydrant was a mile away, tankers were brought in from North Yarmouth, Windham, Gray and New Gloucester to help shuttle water.
The building is listed by the Falmouth assessor as owned by Sean Crothers of Auburn.
David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:
dhench@mainetoday.com
Twitter: Mainehenchman
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