EMBDEN — A fire that destroyed a garage over the holiday weekend is being investigated by the state fire marshal’s office.
The fire broke out shortly before noon Monday on 1230 East Shore Road, and fire crews from about half a dozen towns responded to reports about it.
Anson Fire Chief Daryel Partridge said the fire’s cause is unknown, but it did not appear to be suspicious. He said the garage was a total loss, and the home was unoccupied at the time of the fire because it is a summer home. He said the homeowner, Mike Eastman, lives in Parsonsfield, which is on the New Hampshire state line in York County.
The Anson Fire Department serves the town of Embden, which has fewer than 1,000 residents. The house on East Shore Road is a camp, and Partridge said the house had an accessible driveway, which isn’t always the case with houses in that area. He said crews laid down about 400 feet of hose from the road, so he estimated that was the length of the driveway.
“Most of the roads up there are very hard to access, the camp roads,” Partridge said. “But we do the best we can with what we got. This one was easy.”
Partridge said the fire took about 15 minutes to knock down, with about 25 to 30 firefighters responding. Partridge said so many crews responded because it was a holiday weekend, so manpower was lower than usual.
He said the garage was new and only needed to have the siding put on before it was finished. He said the fire also scorched the side of the house and shattered a few windows. Partridge said there were plenty of things in the garage that were lost, including a new television, a personal watercraft, a snowmobile, a John Deere tractor and a lawn mower.
The fire was reported by a neighbor, but Partridge said the houses weren’t close enough for the fire to damage other properties. The camp is about 10 miles away from the fire station, Partridge said.
Colin Ellis — 861-9253
cellis@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @colinoellis
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