Fire destroyed a sawmill at N.C. Hunt Lumber in Jefferson and spread to multiple accessory buildings and about an acre of the complex early Saturday.
There were no injuries, according to Jefferson Fire Chief Walter Morris. Emergency medical services checked out an Alna firefighter for an unknown medical condition, but he was not taken to a hospital.
Investigators from the Maine fire marshal’s office deemed the fire accidental, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. N.C. Hunt employees had repaired machinery inside the sawmill with torches Friday afternoon “and apparently a spark from those repairs started the fire hours later,” McCausland said Sunday.
A neighbor reported the fire at 200 South Clary Road. The Lincoln County Communications Center dispatched the Jefferson Fire Department at 11:58 p.m. Friday.
“Initial firefighting efforts were focused on preventing the spread of the fire to the many adjacent buildings, including the retail store, buildings containing high-voltage electrical equipment, a recently constructed dry kiln building, and several large lumber storage buildings,” Morris said.
As of 1:30 a.m. Saturday, the fire was “contained but not extinguished,” Chris Rigaud of the Jefferson Fire Department said at the time.
Rigaud did not have specifics on the damage to the buildings and property, but described it as significant.
Crews were attacking the fire from multiple sides, “with a team on the north end and south end of the scene,” Rigaud said. A ladder truck from the Damariscotta Fire Department was providing the master stream for firefighting efforts.
A tanker shuttle was set up to draw water from Clary Lake and supply it to the scene.
“Ten tanker trucks made a combined estimated 100 trips to shuttle water from Clary Lake to the fire scene,” Morris said.
Rigaud said he did not know if anyone was inside any of the buildings when the fire started.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office shut down Route 215 during the response.
A total of 10 fire departments responded to the scene. Assisting Jefferson were crews from Alna, Chelsea, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Nobleboro, Pittston, Somerville, Waldoboro and Whitefield, as well as the Lincoln County Firefighter Strike Team. Bristol, Edgecomb and Wiscasset were dispatched to provide coverage for towns at the scene.
Morris expressed gratitude to all departments.
“I cannot emphasize enough our thanks to the outstanding efforts of our volunteer firefighters and first responders in Jefferson and all of our neighboring mutual aid communities,” Morris said.