BATH

Firefighters worked together to quickly quell a blaze that started in the basement of a Washington Street home this morning before it spread to the upper floors and caused major damage.

With the fire out, Bath Fire Joe McCole said the department is investigating the cause of the fire, which started in the basement. An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office was responding to the scene as well because it appears on a preliminary basis that the fire was set by a juvenile.

There were children home with their nanny when the fire broke out at 1141 Washington St., according to Bath Fire Captain Chris Cummings, but everyone got out safely. The house should be repairable and firefighters sectioned off an enclosed porch area damaged by fire and should be livable. 

Two dogs live at the home as well, but one was still inside the home when crews arrived so McCole went in and found the dog on the second floor, picked him up and got the pet out unharmed.

At around 10:30 a.m. McCole said firefighters received report of smoke in a building and were told everyone is out.

“When we pulled up I could see smoke so I pulled a first alarm right away, and deployed hoses,” McCole said. The largest portion of the fire was in the basement he said, but as crews hit the fire with water, “we could see that a lot of it was venting out of the top, so we went more for a top attack to chase it out of the basement. It worked out really well.”

He credited a great crew who worked well together. 

Firefighters were able to knock out the fire before too much damage occurred. Luckily the damage in the house is limited to smoke damage. Everyone got out and no one got hurt, McCole said. Crews showed up quickly with a lot of water and extinguished the flames fast.

Also a key factor, the occupants got out of the house immediately and called 911 right away, “which gives us a chance to do what we can do as fast as possible without having to play catch up,” McCole said. Firefighters often say they have a 5-minute window to determine what they do for the next five hours.

According to the city’s assessing department, most recent records list the home owners as Johanna B. Olivadoti and Jason S. Hoslinger and have the home assessed at $118,100.

Brunswick and West Bath fire departments responded to the scene, Phippsburg Fire and Rescue covered Bath fire station with an ambulance and Topsham covered the West Bath fire station.

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