A guest at the New Meadows River Cottages in West Bath suffered extensive burns and had to be flown to a Boston hospital after a fire broke out in his cottage.

West Bath Fire Chief Greg Payson said the 43-year-old male victim had been cooking and left food unattended on the cottage’s kitchen stove.

A neighbor spotted smoke coming out of the cottage and contacted the West Bath Fire Department. Payson said the man, whose name is not being released pending notification of his relatives, was in distress outside the cottage by the time firefighters arrived around 1:17 a.m.

“He had suffered burns from head to toe,” Payson said.

Payson said the investigation determined that the man suffered the burns while attempting to extinguish the stove fire. Firefighters found two empty fire extinguishers inside the cottage, which sustained more than $15,000 in damage.

The victim was transported by a Brunswick ambulance crew to Maine Medical Center in Portland before being flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“He’s in critical condition,” Payson said late Sunday afternoon. “He’s not doing well.”

Payson said the man had been renting the cottage on a long-term basis. New Meadows River Cottages is on Bath Road near the New Meadows River.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com