WISCASSET

A fire destroyed the main portion of a Wiscasset home on Tuesday night. No injuries were reported and the home was unoccupied at the time of the blaze.

Fire Chief TJ Merry said the fire was called in around 9:30 p.m. at the home located at 807 Gardiner Road. The home, owned by John Maclaren Sr., had been unoccupied for two years. Maclaren’s son, who lives next door to the property, called the fire in.

An investigator from the Fire Marshal’s Office examined the site for more than four hours Wednesday, Merry said, and determined it to be an accidental electrical fire which started in the basement.

Merry said the fire was knocked down in approximately 30 minutes and put out shortly there after.

A double-layered roof posed difficulties in extinguishing the fire, Merry said, and the main portion of the house is significantly damaged on the interior and is uninhabitable.

“It makes the house like an oven,” Merry said. “Metal roofs are great, but as far as a fire is concerned, they don’t allow the house to breathe.”

The Wiscasset fire department was aided on the scene by Alna, Dresden, Edgecomb, Westport Island and Woolwich fire departments.

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