The Portland Fire Department was called to the city’s historic Evergreen Cemetery after receiving a report of a woods fire that had broken out at the rear of the property around 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer, file
Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control by 6:30 p.m. The blaze broke out near homes. Brentwood Street at Hamblet Avenue to Newman Street was closed to traffic.
Portland Fire Marshal Jason Grant told News Center Maine (WCSH/WLBZ) that the fire burned about two acres along the edge of the woods. The Maine Forest Service is investigating the cause of the fire, Grant said.
Evergreen Cemetery, located off Stevens Avenue, is the state’s largest cemetery, with 239 acres. At the rear of the cemetery is a large swath of woods, trails and a pond.
Evergreen contains the remains of about 1,400 Civil War veterans and is the final resting place for notable Mainers such as former Portland mayor James Phinney Baxter and Nathan Clifford, a former U.S. Attorney General and Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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