SHOWHEGAN, Maine — Huge billows of black smoke and then flames could be seen from the second story windows of an apartment building on Main Street that caught fire just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to local media reports.
No injuries were reported in the three-story apartment building fire at 11 Main St., but traffic was tied up as crews battled the blaze that occurred at the entrance to downtown where U.S. Route 2 meets U.S. Route 201, according to the Waterville Morning Sentinel. Some residents escaped with just the clothes on their backs.
“We evacuated, hit it from the outside, knocked it down. Now, we’re going back in,” Skowhegan Fire Chief Shawn Howard told the Morning Sentinel at the scene.
Workers at Al’s Pizza on Waterville Road offered food and drinks to first responders, according to a Facebook post. Firefighters from Fairfield, Waterville, Cornville, Norridgewock and Winslow assisted local crews.
The fire also resulted in power being cut to some 1,855 customers in the Skowhegan, Fairfield and Norridgewock area, according to Central Maine Power Co. Nearby Redington-Fairview hospital in Skowhegan was put on auxiliary power, officials said. Power also was knocked out to most of downtown Skowhegan from the rotary at the former Candlelight Restaurant, where there was a police roadblock, to past the municipal building on Water Street, according to the Morning Sentinel.