BRUNSWICK

Brunswick Fire Department is investigating a small but suspicious fire that occurred last week on Maine Street.

Brunswick firefighters responded to Senter Place on Friday morning for smoke in the building, which they traced to a heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit.

Brunswick Fire Chief Ken Brillant said the call of smoke was reported from within the Senter Place building, located at 124 Maine St., at 8:50 a.m. Responding firefighters could see light smoke and smell something burning, but conditions weren’t severe enough to set off the alarm system.

Brillant said the smoke seemed to get worse. At one point there was a smell of wood burning, so as people were starting to arrive for work firefighters pulled the fire alarm to evacuate the building. The fire was traced to a two-story enclosed structure in the alley way between two buildings which houses the HVAC units. There was a small fire in the second floor unit, the fire chief said, which was quickly and easily extinguished. The fire department cleared the scene about two hours after the initial call came in.

“The problem was, for a little while there we had smoke going throughout the building but we couldn’t find where it was coming from,” Brillant said. Smoke got into the HVAC unit and pushed through the duct work in the building creating a light haze that made it difficult to find the origin.

The small fire caused very minimal damage and crews were able to open some doors to ventilate the building.

On Monday, Brillant said the fire is suspicious and remains under investigation, conducted jointly by Brunswick Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Emerson and Brunswick Police Det. Bill Moir.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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