A fire burns Friday night at a home in Yarmouth. Photo courtesy of Yarmouth Fire Rescue
A candle that was left burning on a back porch appears to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a home in Yarmouth, Fire Chief Mike Robitaille said Sunday evening.
The blaze late Friday night at 30 Idle Acre Drive resulted in minor injuries to five Yarmouth firefighters, who were among the first emergency responders to arrive at the scene.
Three firefighters were treated at the scene for heat exhaustion and two suffered lacerations, but none of them had to be hospitalized. A woman who lives in the home with her husband suffered minor burns to her hands, Robitaille said. They are staying with family members.
The candle was left burning on a table that had been set up on the rear porch. It had only been burning for about five minutes when a nearby chair caught fire. Flames from the chair went through an open window and entered the home, Robitaille said.
“The fire spread fast,” he said.
By the time crews started to arrive, just after 10 p.m., the porch roof had collapsed and the fire had spread to other parts of the home. More than 45 firefighters from Yarmouth, Cumberland, Falmouth and Freeport responded to the scene. Firefighters from Portland and Falmouth covered the Yarmouth station.
Conditions were horrible for firefighting, the fire chief said. The temperature was 75 degrees and the humidity levels were 67 percent.
“It was so hot that we had to rotate fire crews,” Robitaille said. The first team of firefighters who went inside the home were treated for heat exhaustion could only tolerate conditions for about six minutes. Robitaille said the home, which he estimated was valued at more than $300,000, was destroyed. Both occupants made it out safely.
Robitaille said that firefighters remained at the fire scene until 3 a.m. Saturday, returning around 10 a.m. to check for hot spots.
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