CAMDEN — A 14-year-old boy has been identified as the person killed in an intense house fire early Thursday morning in Camden.

Theodore Hedstrom was found in a sleeping area near where the fire started, according to Fire Marshal Lt. Troy Gardner. Gardner updated the media Friday morning.

Firefighters try to contain a fire that destroyed a home in Camden Thursday. A 14-year-old boy was killed in the fire. Rockport Fire Department

Two adults are being treated at Maine Medical Center after initially being taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. One of them was critically injured trying to reach the boy, Gardner said. The names of the adults were not released, although Hedstrom’s mother later posted a Facebook message from Maine Medical Center to thank the community for its support.

The fire marshal said the cause of the fire has not been determined although he said it was accidental. The fire marshal said the fire started near an electrical panel which had been worked on last week when a clothes dryer was installed.

The fire was reported shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, to Knox County Regional Communications Center. Camden, Rockport, Lincolnville and Hope fire departments and Northeast Mobile Health Service and Rockland emergency medical services responded.

Flames were already consuming the house when firefighters arrived, and the home was destroyed. The two adults and the teen were in the house at the time.

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Carrie Connors, Theodore’s mother, wrote on Facebook Friday that she wanted to let those who loved her son know that he did not suffer and to thank the community for its support.

“I need to say first that what everyone is doing for us right now is the only thing giving me any hope, at all,” she wrote.

She said she expects to be released from the hospital as soon as next week, while her partner is covered in third-degree burns and is expected to be hospitalized for about three months.

“What woke me up was a dream of Theodore standing by my bed saying, ‘Mom, wake up,’ ” she wrote. “I believe he was already gone when I woke up. I believe he saved my life. I also believe he left peacefully and not in pain or fear. He was fast asleep when the black smoke filled his loft and he never woke up. That helps me to know that.”

GoFundMe page set up before the fire to help the family pay for expanded living space has been flooded with notes of sympathy and donations totaling nearly $90,000 as of Friday evening.

Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley said Thursday that this was the first fatal fire in his 13 years with the department.

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Local schools Superintendent Maria Libby emailed a letter Thursday to families who have teenagers and children in the local schools. She shared the information that “there was a serious fire in Camden last night that destroyed the home of some of our students.

“No words can convey the hurt that the fire at the Hedstrom/Connors home has caused their family and will cause the greater community. This tragedy last night will impact many of us and many of you, your children and your friends.”

It was the second fire to take the life of a child in Maine this week.

Gardner said a blaze that killed a 7-year-old girl earlier in the week in Lincoln started in an area where electrical work had been completed three days earlier, and the flames were fueled by kerosene from a plastic container that failed, the Associated Press reported.

The victim, Adele Parent, was unable to escape Monday evening and adults in the home were unable to reach her because of intense heat and smoke, Gardner said.

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