A 43-year-old man who awoke to a fire in his kitchen is still in critical condition at a Massachusetts hospital after sustaining extensive burns.

West Bath Fire Chief Greg Payson said firefighters were called to a small cottage at 4 Armstrong Way at 1:17 a.m. Sunday, one of the New Meadows River Cottages. The fire was reported by a neighbor, Payson said, and when crews arrived, there was smoke coming from the eaves.

The occupant who was renting the cottage had emptied two fire extinguishers on the fire, so firefighters quickly had the fire knocked down within about 15 min- utes. The fire burned through some of the ceiling and had started to get into the attic, and burned some of the roof.

This morning, Payson identified the occupant as Ed Grant.

Brunswick Rescue took Grant, who sustained extensive burns, to Maine Medical Center in Portland and from there he was flown by LifeFlight to Massachusetts General Hospital where he was in critical condition Sunday afternoon.

There were firefighters on scene from West Bath, Bath, Brunswick and Woolwich, and Topsham, Phippsburg and Georgetown crews provided station coverage. Units began returning to stations from the fire scene at around 2:30 a.m. and it was 4:30 a.m. before the last units cleared the scene.

The state fire marshal’s office was on scene early Sunday and determined the fire was an accidental kitchen fire, Payson said. There were no smoke alarms in the cottage, the chief said.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

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