SKOWHEGAN, Maine — A camp on the Notch Road Extension caught fire Saturday night while the people staying there this weekend had dinner in town, according to Capt. Rick Caldwell of the Skowhegan Fire Department.
The camp was consumed by the fire, despite efforts made by firefighters from several towns to save it.
“Luckily nobody got hurt,” he said Sunday. “Unfortunately, it’s quite a ways from town, and before it was detected, it had really gotten going.”
It took firefighters from his department 15 minutes to get to the camp, which was located on a dirt road.
The fire’s cause was unknown, Caldwell said. An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office came by to investigate Sunday morning.
“It was hard to tell — there was so much devastation,” Caldwell said.
Fire investigators are speculating that it may have begun around the wood stove pipe, but “there’s no way to definitely pin it on that.
“It was not suspicious, that’s for sure,” Caldwell said.
The camp had been purchased this summer by people whose adult grandchildren were using it this weekend. Caldwell did not know the names of the owners, or the precise value of the camp, but said that he believed it was insured.
“They weren’t there at the time the fire started,” he said of the grandchildren. “They had gone into town for supper. They came back to the camp and it was on fire.”
Firefighters from Canaan, Cornville and Madison assisted the Skowhegan Fire Department. Norridgewock firefighters were on standby at the Skowhegan fire station, Caldwell said. Between 16 and 20 firefighters altogether tackled the blaze.
Because so many communities had sent tankers to the scene, firefighters were able to shuttle water from the nearest hydrant to the burning camp, he said.
Switch to gas or electric… too many of these types fires happening
I think making sure everything is in working order and safe is a viable solution. There are just as many fires due to electrical and modern appliances as there are wood stoves and fire places.
yes, woodstove are really low on the list of causing fires.
Where’s your proof?
Proof, oh yeah, 80 proof, wild turkey honey whiskey, very good, you should try some and mellow out.
I stand my case
Hmmm, but not to many serious ones lately…… seems like there have been more none gas related causing deaths and damage… they need to make them safer… furnaces and electric heaters have safety features that can shut them off as appose to a wood or pellet stove
I would attribute the lack of such to be the location. It would appear to me that most of the serious fires that occur with wood stoves are likely to occur in older camps which are in out of the way places and thus farther from notice and aid. I’m willing to bet that wood stoves aren’t nearly as much to blame as bad wiring, cooking accidents, and the very electric heaters that you say have safety features (which any mechanical or electrical safety is just that a mechanical device that can fail) are to blame. They’ve been using wood stoves and fireplaces much longer than more modern heating sources safely. But like everything else they need to be maintained and kept clean and safe. Which common sense dictates, but does not always prevail.
I guess, but they still are very dangerous, at-least lately. People need to double check there wood stoves