WATERBORO — The State Fire Marsahl’s Office has determined that a fatal fire Wednesday night started when wood stored too close to a woodstove ignited.

The woodstove was being used in the basement as a secondary source of heat, authorities said. The fire was deemed to be accidental.

10:15 a.m.

Authorities say an 86-year-old woman was killed when her home was destroyed by fire Wednesday night but her teenage granddaughter escaped.

A spokesman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office said a fire that started in the basement near the woodstove of the home on Pheasant Run Road killed Cecile Morey who was trapped in her bedroom.

Neighbors tried to rescue her but were unable to remove a screen on her bedroom window.

Kaitly Merrill, her 17-year-old granddaughter, escaped from her bedroom in the basement through a basement window and ran to a neighbor’s house for help.

Merriill’s parents, who own the house, and another resident, were not home during the fire, invesigators said.

The fire was reported at 9:30 p.m.  and extinguished but crews had to return to the house this morning when the fire started up again. Investigators planned to return to the house this morning to try to determine the cause of the fire.

6:31 a.m.

The fire chief in the Maine town of Waterboro says one person is dead following a fire on Pheasant Run Road.

Waterboro Fire Chief Matthew Bors says the state fire marshal’s office has been called in to investigate the death and the cause of the fire, which was reported at about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.

The name of the victim has not been released.

Bors tells WMTW-TV firefighters tried to rescue the victim, but they were unsuccessful.

Two other people were in the house when the fire started. One was taken to the hospital.

 

Copy the Story Link