A fire in an apartment building on Stillwater Avenue in Old Town displaced nine adults and two children late Wednesday morning, less than a week after a fire that burned through multiple downtown buildings left 11 people without homes.
The fire in the five-unit building at 1144 Stillwater Ave. was reported shortly after 11 a.m. Stillwater Avenue — a major Old Town artery — was closed between College Avenue and Bennoch Road before reopening shortly after 1 p.m.
[iframe url=”https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=1nYlLBr0LfVhhsmAQfZpms_FtrDI7wh_9″ width=”600″ height=”450″]
No one was injured in the fire, but a police officer had to be treated for smoke inhalation on the scene, according to the Old Town Fire Department. A tenant’s cat also went missing in the fire, said Scott Wilcox, Old Town’s public safety director.
An investigation by the Maine State Fire Marshal’s office found that the fire started on the second floor due to “careless use of a candle,” according to the fire department. By the time crews arrived, the blaze had spread to the third floor.
The first floor was mostly unharmed, but two apartments in the building were significantly damaged, along with the attic, according to the fire department.
The building’s owner was starting to rehabilitate some of the less damaged apartments late Wednesday, and they are expected to reoccupied in the next few days, according to Deputy Chief Chris Baker of the Old Town Fire Department.
Wilcox praised the firefighters and police who responded to the second major fire in Old Town in five days.
“This community has rallied, and I’d like to thank them,” Wilcox said.
Fire departments from Orono, Old Town, Bangor, Milford,\ and Glenburn responded within an hour of the initial call.
All smoke detectors in the building were functional.
BDN writer Eesha Pendharkar contributed to this report.