A Bowdoinham firefighter uses water provided by a tanker truck to extinguish one of more than a dozen grass fires ignited by a vehicle with a faulty catalytic converter in Richmond on Monday. (Darcie Moore / The Times Record)
A moving vehicle’s faulty catalytic converter sparked the blazes, according to Richmond Fire Chief Andrew Pierce. Blazes traced to a similar cause also were reported Monday in Gardiner.
Pierce said the first fire along Route 197 was reported at about 11 a.m. Bowdoin Fire Chief Tom Garrepy was in the area and doused four small fires along this road with the help of a Maine Department of Transportation crew.
Meanwhile, Pierce and other fires crews responded to a line of brush fires along Interstate 295 northbound. Richmond firefighters then assisted the Gardiner Fire Department, along with Farmingdale and West Gardiner, in extinguishing fires burning in several areas along Marston Road.
The last fire was reported in Richmond again, this time on Lincoln Street. The final count was about 14 fires in Richmond, and there may have been more that burned themselves out, according to Pierce.
Initially afraid the fires might be the work of an arsonist, but Pierce said he worked with two forest rangers and determined the fires were sparked by a vehicle’s malfunctioning catalytic converter, which was failing and spitting chunks of debris out through the exhaust as hot as 1,300 to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Fire investigators did not find the vehicle that caused the blazes, Pierce said. It is possible the driver didn’t know the catalytic converter was leaving a trail of hot debris, or took the vehicle home because it was running badly as a result of the malfunction.
The fires are believed to be accidental and no charges are pending, but Pierce said a forest ranger will continue investigating today to try to find the faulty vehicle.
Pierce said it was lucky firefighters were able to respond. Due to radio changes taking place Monday, such as programming of new frequencies, firefighter pagers were at the station. Luckily, Pierce said, a fire horn at the fire station , which was installed in 1952 tand has been out of service for about eight years, was just reinstated and effectively called firefighters to the station.
Crews cleared at about 1 p.m., although Pierce was on the case until about 8:30 p.m.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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