DRESDEN, Maine — Fire destroyed a home on Hunter Road in Dresden around midday Friday. Ten fire departments battled the blaze for more than two hours.
There were no injuries, Dresden Fire Chief Steven Lilly said. Nobody was inside the home when the fire started.
The home was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, Lilly said.
Janet Stewart owns the home, according to Lilly. Stewart owns Meetinghouse Market, a convenience store on Route 27.
The home is at 131 Hunter Road, at the end of a long dirt drive and on the west shore of the Eastern River.
The condition of the road, the windy day, and the presence of a large propane tank outside the residence all complicated firefighting efforts.
“The road was a little soft,” Lilly said. “The frost let go in the road, so that delayed water supply a little bit.” There were deep trenches and other signs in the road where at least one truck appears to have become stuck.
The firefighters stopped bringing trucks all the way down the road. Instead, firefighters ran hundreds of feet of hose all the way to a farm pond at Eastern River Cattle Co.
“We couldn’t do a tanker shuttle because the road wouldn’t hold up,” Lilly said.
“The wind was definitely a factor for awhile,” Lilly said. It was enough to spread the flames to the nearby woods.
“We had a woods fire at the same time,” he said. “We took care of that. We ran a line down there and had a crew take care of putting that fire out, too.”
Firefighters also had to monitor a 500-gallon propane tank behind the house.
“We had to dedicate a fair amount of water to that just to get that cooled down, ’cause it was hot,” Lilly said.
Despite those challenges, firefighters had the blaze under control in about an hour, Lilly said.
Lilly planned to stay at the scene and continue to pour water on the smoldering remains of the home.
“We’ll be here for awhile,” he said.
A couple of small dogs escaped the blaze, according to a neighbor.
Lincoln County Communications paged the Dresden Fire Department at 11:41 a.m.
The Alna, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Pittston, Randolph, Richmond, West Bath, Wiscasset and Woolwich fire departments assisted Dresden.
The Central Maine Power Co., the Lincoln and Sagadahoc County sheriff’s offices, and the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office also responded to the scene. The fire marshal’s office will attempt to determine the cause of the fire.
There were dozens of firefighters at the scene, but “not that many people with a pile of towns,” Lilly said. “People don’t want to volunteer anymore like they used to.”