MEDWAY, Maine – A fire that destroyed a garage and several antique cars started accidentally when the owner was working on a gas tank, a state fire marshal’s office supervisor said Tuesday.
Owner Ronald Martin, 63, was working on a vehicle in the garage at 11 Village Lane on Monday when the fire began, said Sgt. Tim York of the fire marshal’s office.
Reported at about 1 p.m., the blaze drew crew members from six fire departments, which stopped the fire from spreading to adjoining structures. When the first firefighters arrived, Martin was out of the garage, and it was already burning so intensely that the plastic siding on Martin’s home about 40 yards to the southeast was melting. Another garage farther to the north also was threatened, Medway Fire Chief Jon Buckingham said.
“Then it just went from there,” Buckingham said Tuesday of the fire.
Buckingham said he believed that six of eight antique vehicles that Martin had collected or restored and kept in the garage were destroyed by the fire.
Firefighters from East Millinocket, Lincoln, Mattawamkeag, Millinocket and Sherman helped Medway. With temperatures approaching 90 degrees, ambulance workers distributed bottled water to firefighters and monitored them for heat exhaustion. No heat exhaustion cases were reported, Buckingham said.
Martin could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Buckingham placed the value of the garage at $60,000 and the destroyed vehicles at $100,000. Martin is insured against fire loss. Insurance adjusters were at the garage on Tuesday, Buckingham said.