An early Friday morning cooking fire left a prominent downtown Bangor apartment building with smoke and water damage.
The Bangor Fire Department received notice of the smell of smoke and a smoke detector going off at 28 Merchants Plaza, the location of the Freese’s Building Apartment Homes, at around 6:30 a.m, Assistant Fire Chief Philip Hamm said.
Fire crews arrived minutes later and had the fire extinguished by around 6:45 a.m.
“It was really a quick knockdown,” Hamm said.
The smoke was coming from the fifth floor, where there had been an accidental cooking fire from a resident who had left the stove on, he said.
There were no injuries reported. Everybody in the apartment complex had evacuated when the smoke alarm went off.
There is smoke damage to the affected apartment, but more significant water damage to the third, fourth and fifth floors of the building, Hamm said.
The building is insured, Hamm said, and Freese’s staff were working to repair water and smoke damage Friday morning.
One or two people may be displaced due to the fire, Hamm said, but Freese’s staff were making sure they had temporary arrangements in place.
Hamm noted that cooking fires are the No. 1 cause of home fires nationwide and implored people to be vigilant.
“If you plan on cooking something, pay attention to it until it’s done,” Hamm said.