Brunswick Fire Department Fire Chief Ken Brillant said crews responding to a report of a fire at approximately 2:30 p.m. Friday found the man outside the building suffering from smoke inhalation and facial burns.
Local police and fire officials declined to identify the man this morning, three days after the incident. The man — identified by neighbors as Gerald Sanford, 53 — was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was listed in satisfactory condition this morning.
The fire, at 23 Oak St. was extinguished at 2:55 p.m. Friday. Freeport and Topsham fire departments also responded and Bath and West Bath provided station coverage.
The Office of the State Fire Marshal was called to investigate. Brunswick’s Captain Robert Robitaille said the fire marshal investigator had determined that smoking material caused the fire, but further details remain under investigation.
Unconfirmed reports from bystanders indicate an oxygen tank within a residence may have exploded.
Brillant said most of the damage was confined to the man’s apartment, although a lower apartment may also have sustained water damage. He said most of the residents of the apartment building will be able to reoccupy their dwellings.
Walter Dall was visiting his cousin’s mom at the time of the alleged explosion. “Everything started smoking and the fire alarm went off. Then it was just pandemonium,” he said.
Stella Bloodgood lives in the apartment below the injured man and said she heard him fall. She said her son-in-law ran upstairs to check on him and yelled for someone to call 911, put the man on over his shoulder and carried him out of the building. The fire alarm was sounding as well, Bloodgood said, but she didn’t hear “a blowout.”
Robitaille said tenants were let back into all of the apartments except the one where the fire occurred and the apartment below. The lower apartment should be habitable after the weekend.
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