FAIRFIELD — Sparks from a passing train ignited a brush fire Sunday that later gutted the second floor of a nearby outbuilding.
Chief Duane Bickford said a southbound train was rolling through a densely populated downtown neighborhood at about 1:45 p.m. when the fire started in the backyard of 239 Main St. and spread to the neighboring property at 237 Main St.
The fire entered an apparently abandoned two-story outbuilding at 239 Main Street, partially burned a dead tree and consumed a wooden fence.
Bickford said trains are responsible for several brush fires every year, but this is the first the department has dealt with this season.
“I’m a little surprised we haven’t seen one sooner,” he said
No one was at 239 Main St. at the time of the fire. Several neighbors said they didn’t know the name of the resident.
The Maine Forest Service listed fire danger throughout most of the state on Sunday as Class 4, or very high.
Firefighters battled at least one other brush fire in central Maine on Sunday. In Winslow, a fire burned about two acres of brush on Eames Road before responders knocked it down.
Ben McCanna — 861-9239
bmccanna@centralmaine.com
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