BREWER, Maine — The Potvins’ family dog began to bark just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, and when family members got up to see why, they saw the backside of their Gibbons Court home in flames, Fire Department Lt. Dennis Tinkham said on Wednesday.
Homeowners George and Donna Potvin, three other adults and one toddler escaped the building as firefighters arrived to fight the blaze.
“It had already progressed to a noticeable fire before we got there,” Tinkham said. “There was a large volume of fire on the back part of the house.”
The fire destroyed the backside of the house, located at 6 Gibbons Court, which is a small street behind the old police station, and also damaged nearby homes.
“The main part of the house had smoke, water, heat and fire damage,” Tinkham said. “It got up into the attic and burned the rear section of the roof off.”
The area burned extensively had been converted into a storage shed that was filled with household items, all of which were lost in the fire.
Three nearby homes, one behind and one on each side of the home, had damage, mostly melted siding, Tinkham said.
“The biggest issue was the close proximity [of the nearby homes] and the size of the fire before it was discovered,” he said.
The cause of the fire in the two-story home is still unknown. The origin has not been pinpointed, but Tinkham said it began in the general area of the shed.
Firefighters got the blaze under control about an hour after arriving and were helped by crews from Bangor.
One Brewer firefighter was hurt when he stepped into “a hole that had burned through the floor” on the first floor, Tinkham said.
He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and later was released, he said.
The Potvin family could not return to the burned home and stayed with family in the area, the fire lieutenant said.
Firefighters returned to the station at about 2:30 a.m., but crews checked on the charred debris several times to ensure nothing flared up, he said.
City Councilor Larry Doughty, who showed up at the blaze shortly after firefighters, said “it was quite a fire.”
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