FREEPORT, Maine — The insurance company for a Balsam Lane home that burned nearly a year ago has filed suit against Downeast Energy, claiming their technicians’ negligence caused the fire.
Portland attorney Martica S. Douglas, who represents Amica Mutual Insurance Company of Rhode Island, said Monday that the July 25, 2014, three-alarm fire at the home of James and Mary Gribbel cost the insurance company about $750,000.
Firefighters from eight communities went to the home at 5 Balsam Lane that day to wage what Freeport Deputy Fire Chief Paul Conley said at the time was a “labor intensive” battle due to the heat of the day and the distance from the road to the house.
One Freeport firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion and another for a hand injury, but neither was taken to the hospital.
According to documents filed May 27 in U.S. District Court, Amica Mutual claims the fire was caused by negligence on the part of service technicians employed by Osterman Propane, LLC, doing business as Downeast Energy, who went to the house that day to repair a leaking fuel tank.
Amica Mutual claims the employees inserted a vacuum into the leaking tank and left it running for more than an hour, “thereby allowing the motor to become sufficiently hot to ignite the fuel.”
According to a report filed by senior fire investigator Daniel Young of the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office, the fire started when “a fuel contractor was present, working on a leaking fuel tank, and vented the combustible vapor into the basement area using a shop vacuum. The vapors ignited or the vacuum failed and started a basement fire.”
Amica Mutual paid damages included fire debris removal, structural repairs, replacement and/or restoration of personal property and leasing separate living quarters while the home was uninhabitable, according to documents, and is suing Downeast Energy to recoup those costs.
According to a report by the state fire marshal’s office, the fire caused about $100,000 in damage to a home valued at $750,000 prior to the fire.
“It’s a pretty open-and-shut causation analysis,” Douglas said Monday. “The Downeast people were at the house fixing the tank, and they leave this vacuum on, one goes to get tools and one is eating lunch, and the vacuum gets so hot that it ignites the fuel vapors. That’s where the fire starts.”
A phone call to Michael McCormack, vice president at Downeast Energy, was not immediately returned on Monday.