HOLDEN, Maine — A Holden police officer rescued a woman from an early-morning blaze that destroyed the 2½-story farmhouse she and her three children lived in.
There were no fatalities or injuries from the fire that scorched much of the building at 45 Rowell Road known locally as The Howard Farm.
“A woman called 911 and Penobscot Regional Communications Center at 4:57 a.m. and said her house was on fire and she couldn’t get out,” Holden Public Safety Director James Ellis said. “Officer Ken Dowling was on overnight patrol and was the first to respond. He helped her open a window on the first floor and pulled her out to safety.”
Catherine Gignac, 45, was treated on the scene for minor smoke inhalation but did not have to be taken to a hospital.
The farmhouse is owned by James Howard, but it was daughter Gignac and her three children — two boys, ages 12 and 15, and an 18-year-old daughter — who were living there. None of the children were home at the time of the fire.
Fire crews arrived at 5:10 a.m. and reported heavy fire visible with flames coming through the roof.
“Part of the wood frame house is still standing, but it’s a total loss along with all possessions,” Ellis said. “There were no smoke detectors and she had no insurance.”
The cause of the fire is not yet known. The State Fire Marshal’s Office will begin investigating next week, Ellis said.
Gignac and her family had three dogs, two of whom died in the fire. Two adjacent barns housing equipment as well as goats and geese were saved by fire crews responding from Brewer, Eddington, Orrington, Dedham, Bradley, Bangor and Hampden.
Gignac’s vehicle also was destroyed in the fire.
“It required a lot of tankers,” said Ellis. “The nearest fire hydrant was more than a mile away, so we had to use tanker shuttles with a rural hitch that allowed us to hook up two tankers and once and get a water flow of almost 900 gallons a minute.”
The American Red Cross also responded to the scene.
An account to help the Gignac family will be set up at Bangor Savings Bank’s Brewer branch on Monday morning, according to family friend Amanda Albert. The branch is located at 425 Wilson St. and can be reached at 989-1944.
For more information on how to help the family, contact Michele Archambault at 249-5276 or Amanda Albert at 989-2942.
Great job Officer Dowling and truly glad Ms. Grignac is safe…..sorry for this family’s loss of pets and property…..
Tragic.
Glad she and the goats are OK.
Just asking,,.. Why didn’t she break the window and get out??
It’s an older farm house with big old windows. Did u read she had smoke inhalation and maybe, she was disoriented do u think?
You would have to drag me out a window trying to save my dogs alone. I bet she had more than just her life on her mind. And try remembering where a window is in a smokey, superheated, stress filled environment when you cant breath and are suffocating from CO and cyanide poisoning. Just a few thoughts as to her delay.. Oh yeah and maybe the paper wanted it to sound good ? No down play to the fact that the officer was there quickly and did the right thing.
Well I listened to the dispatch yesterday morning. She stated she was in a room that was filling with smoke and she could hear the crackling of fire in the room behind her. She was told three times to leave the residence by dispatch. At some point, she told dispatch that she had gotten one of her dogs out. She stated that she found a window but could only get her head out. A few minutes later she said that the room was getting hot. Prior to Holden FD arrived on scene the PD got her out. I have been told that another window was located and she was removed through that one.
Sounds like a scary dispach.
Gignac is correct spelling
Good Job Ken! This is why Stephanie has a shirt saying My Uncle, My Hero :) We are all proud of you!!!!
That’s what ‘The Job’ is all about folk’s. If we have to explain it to you, well, you just wouldn’t understand. If you understand we don’t need to explain it. You done good Ken, real good. Pass it on.
But yet, people will still complain about the tax rate..
Umm, I don’t think the barns are okay.
Adjacent barns, as in no where near the house is my guess. Or maybe the barns are in a parallel universe.
The barns are fine actually, they’re pretty close to the house but they appear unharmed. I go past this house every day on my way home.
Great job to all involved, everything went just as planned!!!
A fund, under the name Gignac Family, has been set up at the Bangor Savings Bank in Brewer. It will be available for donations at noon tomorrow (Monday, March3) if anyone would like to help out. Cathy is an extremely hard working, kind person who is dear to the Holden community.