HERMON, Maine — The spontaneous combustion of a brush or rags used in a furniture refinishing project was cited as the cause of a fire that leveled a garage and damaged a home on Monday at 55 Treadwell Acres.
Hermon Fire Chief Ray Pipes said Thursday that an investigator from the state fire marshal’s office was called in earlier this week to help pinpoint the cause of the fire, which began shortly before 9 p.m. in the garage.
Earlier in the day, between 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., the occupants varnished a coffee table in the garage, and the brush or rags used with the varnish or polyurethane were put into a plastic bag, which then was disposed of in a trash can, Pipes said.
Hermon Fire Chief Ray Pipes said Tuesday the blaze started about 9 p.m. in the garage, which was attached to the raised-ranch home.
Pipes said the garage was destroyed, while the home had fire damage to the attic and smoke and water damage throughout the remainder of the residence.
The homeowners, Jody and Sherry Theberge, and their teenage son all got out safely.
Crews managed to get the blaze under control in less than an hour.
Firefighters from Hermon, Bangor, Carmel, Hampden, Levant, Etna and the Air National Guard Base in Bangor were at the blaze.
According to a November 2011 report by the National Fire Protection Agency, fires caused by spontaneous combustion or chemical reaction accounted for an estimated average of 14,070 fires a year between 2005 and 2009.
These included 3,200 structure fires, 1,150 vehicle fires, 5,250 outside nontrash and unclassified fires, and 4,460 outside trash or rubbish fires, the National Fire Protection Agency noted.
Residential structure fires accounted for half of those blamed on spontaneous combustion, while 12 percent occurred in storage buildings, another 9 percent involved mercantile or business buildings, and 9 more percent involved manufacturing or processing plants, the report noted.