FOREST CITY, Maine – A fire Thursday that firefighters suspect started near the wood stove leveled this small border town’s former schoolhouse and spread to a nearby single-story home, destroying it as well.
The fire, which was reported about 1 p.m., began in the former schoolhouse, according to Chaplain Gerald Allen of the Danforth Fire Department, one of four departments to respond to the report of a fire on Forest City Road.
By the time Danforth fire crews made the 24-mile drive to the scene, the fire already had consumed the schoolhouse, which was being used for storage, and had spread to the house, Allen said.
He said a crew entered the house in an attempt to save it, but was forced to retreat because the interior was in flames.
Allen said three people lived in the home – a man, his girlfriend and their infant. Their names were not immediately available. Only the man was home when the fire began and neither he nor any of the firefighters who responded were injured. A cat is believed to have died in the fire.
The Red Cross has been called in to assist the family, Allen said.