BRUNSWICK, Maine — A two-alarm fire that destroyed a duplex on Tuesday and displaced four residents was sparked by improperly discarded smoking materials that fell from a second-story deck into the floor area below.
The accidental fire displaced four residents, two from the second-floor apartment and two from the apartment below, according to Deputy Chief Jeff Emerson of the Brunswick Fire Department.
Firefighters from nearby Emerson Station on Bath Road arrived at the building just before noon Tuesday and found the rear wall fully engulfed, Brunswick Fire Chief Ken Brillant said at the scene.
Two firefighters carried Nelson “Chip” Darling, in his wheelchair, from the burning first-floor apartment to safety.
No injuries were reported.
The duplex, owned along with two others on the property by John and Beverly Fitzpatrick of Brunswick, was a total loss, Brillant said Wednesday.
The fire follows another two days earlier in Bath, also caused by discarded smoking materials. Three residents and a dog escaped a home on Graffam Way in Bath early Monday morning. Bath Fire Chief Larry Renaud said Monday that investigators from the Bath Fire Department and the state fire marshal’s office determined the cause to be improperly discarded cigarettes.
Emerson said Wednesday that current dry conditions have left the area vulnerable to such fires.