LISBON

A boy was taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation after he and his brother escaped a fire at 3 Marc Drive in Lisbon Wednesday morning.

The structure fire was reported at 7:48 a.m. Lisbon Fire Chief Nate LeClair said when he arrived there was smoke coming from every window and fire from the back of the trailer.

There were two children home at the time the fire broke out.

“One of the kids tried going back in to get the dog and thankfully the neighbors pulled the kid out before he got into any more trouble,” LeClair said.

As a result, the boy suffered some smoke inhalation. The dog came out of the house on its own.

The two boys live at the home with their grandmother, who Lisbon police say had left for work when the fire started. She came home and took the grandchild with smoke inhalation to the hospital to be checked out.

According to town assessing records, the home belongs to Louise Hamner.

One of the big challenges was drawing enough firefighters to the scene to fight the fire. Because there wasn’t enough manpower initially, the first crew on scene could only fight the fire from the exterior. Additional firefighters responded from Lewiston, Durham and Topsham.

The construction of the mobile home also posed a challenge for firefighters. There was a second roof built over the original roof, allowing fire to travel between the two layers so firefighters had to gain access to this area. It was between 20 and 30 minutes before the fire was extinguished, LeClair estimated.

Lisbon EMS monitored firefighters, who were taking extra breaks, drinking water and sitting in the shade to make sure they didn’t suffer from heat exhaustion.

Fortunately the fire did not spread to the nearby neighboring homes.

Daryll Gagnon lives next door to the house that caught fire. Hamner lives there with two grandsons, ages 11 and 13, he said. One of the boys came to get him and told him there was a fire in the bedroom.

The oldest boy had tried to put the fire out by pouring water on it, Gagnon said.

He called 911 and began alerting others in the neighborhood of the fire. When he got outside to look, there were already flames showing and the fire was growing fast.

The fire spread in seconds, said Gagnon’s daughter, Teila Lavoie.

“I saw the flames going almost up to that tree right by my house, in back of it, and I was getting a little scared at that time,” Lavoie said.

She was displaced from a home in Lewiston a couple years ago, so Wednesday’s fire brought on an anxiety attack.

They got their animals out of the house and put them in the car just to be safe.

Gagnon said he and other residents were wondering what their neighbors will do next after losing their home and belongings, knowing she’ll have to start over. It’s a close-knit community.

“Everybody looks out for one another,” he said.

LeClair said the home is a total loss. The American Red Cross will offer assistance to the family.

LeClair said an investigator with the fire marshal’s office responded to the scene but the cause of the fire is still under investigation. LeClair said he believes the fire started in the back bedroom.

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