Columbia Falls barn catches fire; no one hurt

Columbia Falls barn catches fire; no one hurt


Roofless barn catches fire
By Bill Trotter
BDN Staff

COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine — Firefighters were called Monday morning to the scene of a barn fire on Centerville Road, but there were no injuries and no significant damage from the flames.

The barn’s owner, Karen Worcester, said she was not sure why it caught fire. The structure has been empty since snow caved in the roof last winter, she said. People nearby saw black smoke coming out of the partially collapsed barn around 10 a.m. Monday and called the Fire Department, she said.

Worcester is a co-owner of Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington.

Investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office were expected to look into the cause of the fire, according to firefighter Bob Grant.

Grant said that about 80 feet of a barn wall burned. Metal sheathing that enclosed the structure’s cedar posts helped keep the fire from spreading to nearby grass, he said.

“The [barn] floor was made of chewed-up tires, so it spread fairly rapidly,” Grant said.

Area fire departments were notified of the blaze around 10:45 a.m., Grant said. When firefighters arrived at the scene about 15 minutes later, the barn was being sprayed with a garden hose, he said. It took firefighters about half an hour to completely extinguish the flames, he said.

Five firefighters from Columbia Falls, Columbia and Addison responded to the alarm and were at the scene for about an hour, according to Grant.

Worcester said she wanted to make sure the blaze was not deliberately set, so she requested that the fire marshal’s office investigate. The barn was not insured, she said.

She said she plans to rebuild the barn in the summer of 2010.

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Comments
2 comments on this item

Special thanks go out to my dear friends and fellow fire-fighters, Tom Bouchard (Columbia Fire), Kevin & Wayne Merritt (Addison and Columbia Falls) as well as Shane Emerson (Columbia Falls) for responding to this call.

This had the potential to be far worse as the fire could have easily spread into the foliage if it was not knocked down properly. The garden hose that someone used did a lot of help however the rubber tire chucks used on the floor made it more of a job for a firehose.

Thanks guys for your help... You guys deserve all the credit for this.

Bob Grant,

Columbia Falls Fire Department.

Why is it when someone does something stupid everyone posts their opinion. How about giving the guys above

a big thank you for making themselves available to help safe property and life. I think all fire-fighters deserve

a round of applause for risking it all at the drop of a dime when someone else is in need.

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