UNITY, Maine — A man who escaped his burning home Saturday morning had difficulties finding a phone to report the blaze, causing a delay in the response time, the Unity fire chief said.
Stan Mitchell, who rented a two-story home on Hunter Road, had let his dogs out in the morning and then noticed the fast-moving fire, which he told Fire Chief David Smith appeared to have started in a propane-powered dryer.
“He was able to get out safely, but then there was a delay in reporting it because he couldn’t stay in the house to call that on that phone,” Smith said.
Mitchell didn’t have a cellphone, and went to the houses of two different neighbors in search of a phone to report the fire, but no one was home. Finally, a passerby with a cellphone stopped and reported the fire at 7:20 a.m. — not long after the fire had begun but because it was so fast-moving, every minute counted, Smith said.
“It was fully involved by the time we got there,” the chief said.
About 25 firefighters from Unity, Freedom, Thorndike and Troy worked to extinguish the fire, which ultimately destroyed the rental home and “very heavily damaged” two garages that were very close to the house, Smith said. Two propane tanks at the house contributed to the fire’s spread. They vented off propane, but still the fuel fed the blaze. Smith said that a lot of tools and small equipment in the garages were lost, including lawn mowers and snowblowers.
Smith said he thinks the home was insured, and that officials have contacted the owners, who are in Florida. Investigators from the Maine fire marshal’s office will take a look at the burned-out home on Monday, though it is not suspicious, Smith said.