OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — Firefighters around the state were busy Friday afternoon battling fires in several communities on a day the Maine Forest Service declared a red flag warning.
Crews from several communities were at a four-alarm brush fire on Walnut Street in Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough dispatch confirmed.
Deputy Chief Robert Martin of the Saco Fire Department said he sent a crew as mutual aid just after 3 p.m.
The Beaver Creek apartment complex and Davenport condominiums were evacuated, Portland television station WGME, CBS 13, reported.
Another fire, now considered suspicious, was reported on Thursday on School Street in Old Orchard Beach, according to CBS 13.
Firefighters in several Hancock County towns were paged out Friday afternoon to a fire in Bar Harbor after a blaze first reported as a burning barn off Russell Farm Road spread into an adjacent field and nearby woods.
In addition to manpower from Trenton, Hancock, Ellsworth and towns on Mount Desert Island, the Maine Forest Service sent helicopters to assist with the blaze. Forest rangers reported just after 5 p.m. on the service’s Facebook page that the fire had been contained.
Down the coast in Waldo County, Lincolnville firefighters worked Friday afternoon to contain a forest fire that nearly spread to a building in its path. The Fishing Rock Road fire consumed nearly 1 acre before firefighters extinguished the blaze.
At about 4:45 p.m., Richmond Fire Department was called to provide mutual aid to a fire at 565 Oak Hill Road, according to Richmond Fire Chief Matt Roberge.
Earlier in the day, the Maine Forest Service dealt with a 5-acre wildfire in Corinna.
The Maine Forest Service declared a red flag warning for Washington, Hancock, southern Penobscot and southern Piscataquis counties from 1 to 8 p.m.
The National Weather Service in Gray has issued a fire weather watch for Saturday as well in much of southern New Hampshire and inland Maine, predicting winds “almost as gusty as today.”