ORLAND, Maine — A possible fire at a historic house on Castine Road on Tuesday morning turned out to be a false alarm, according to the local fire chief.
Orland Fire Chief Bob Conary said smoke that was reported in the house about 9 a.m. was a result of a furnace malfunction. Firefighters from Orland, Bucksport and Penobscot responded to the call before determining there was no fire.
Had it been an actual fire, Conary added, the fire departments might have run into difficulty getting enough properly trained firefighters to respond, given that the call came in during business hours on a weekday. More fire departments likely would have had to be toned out in order to get enough qualified firefighters to the scene, he said.
“We were lucky,” Conary said on the Orland Fire Department’s Facebook page.
The house with the malfunctioning furnace originally was built in 1763 and is for sale, according to a listing on mainerealestatebrokerage.com. A description of the property on the website indicates that the house has six fireplaces and over the past 250 years has been used as “an inn with livery, a working farm, an antique shop, a [bed-and-breakfast], [and] a stop on the Underground Railroad.”
