Two fires fought at pair of homes Garage burns in Dover-Foxcroft

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A pair of weekend fires destroyed a garage and damaged a bedroom.

Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, firefighters went to the home of Scott and Debbie Lander on Steadmans Landing Road. The couple’s two-bay garage, which Scott Lander had used as a workshop, was in flames when they arrived.

Fire Chief Joe Guyotte said Scott Lander hosed down his nearby home to keep the fire from spreading, while he awaited the arrival of firefighters.

The fire was under control in about 30 minutes. By then the garage was destroyed.

Guyotte said the fire appeared to have been started accidentally by a wood stove.

Scott Lander “was working in his workshop, had a wood stove going, went in for dinner and didn’t pay much attention,” Guyotte said Sunday. “The next thing he knows, black smoke is pouring out of the building.”

Lander managed to remove an all-terrain vehicle before the flames intensified. Destroyed in the fire were a lawn tractor, tools and log siding for an addition, Guyotte said.

He said the unattended wood stove most likely ignited scrap lumber scattered nearby. “It doesn’t take long,” Guyotte said.

The second fire broke out shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday at the Grove Street home of Fred Brawn.

Brawn, an emergency dispatcher for the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department, was on duty when his wife called to report a fire in a second-floor bedroom in their home.

Guyotte said the fire is believed to have started after someone left a burning candle unattended. He said Brawn’s son Gabriel initially fought the fire with a home extinguisher, then closed the door and waited for firefighters.

Guyotte, first on the scene, said he doused the fire with an extinguisher to prevent water damage to the home. Firefighters then vented the smoke and cleaned up.

The fire, which was contained to the bedroom, destroyed a bed and a rug.