A large fire in the northern Penobscot County town of Patten early Wednesday morning shut down the town’s main street and knocked out power to businesses.
The fire engulfed both Main Street Outback Garage — an auto repair shop and car wash — and the next door Hathaway Apartments around 5 a.m. The fire began at the rear of the garage, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said.
All residents of the apartment complex made it out of the building safely and are with family, Patten Town Clerk Billy Doody said in a Facebook post. Two tenants who lived above the garage also safely escaped the fire.
Officials consider the garage a total loss, and significant damage to the apartment building displaced eight tenants, Moss said.
The Maine fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire, Moss said, noting that a woodstove cannot be ruled out as a possible cause and that the use of an excavator hindered an investigator’s ability to determine the cause.
The Patten Town Office and fire department did not immediately respond to requests for information.
Traffic was rerouted around the stretch of Patten’s downtown, which is also a part of Route 11, as emergency crews battled the fire.
Several businesses in the immediate vicinity — including Katahdin Trust Co. — posted on social media that they would delay opening Wednesday as they waited for power to be restored.
Fire departments from Medway, Island Falls, Oakfield, Sherman, Stacyville, Mt. Chase and Houlton, and the Island Falls and Patten ambulance services provided mutual aid.