Fire leaves Dover-Foxcroft family homeless

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Firefighters kept a fire from spreading throughout a 31/2-story apartment building Saturday.

Fire Chief Joe Guyotte said no injuries were reported in the 1 p.m. fire at 6 Autumn Ave.

The building, owned by Bob Creed of Sebec, contains four apartments. The chief was not sure whether Creed had insurance, but said volunteer firefighter Mike Nelson and his wife, Maggie, who rented the second-story apartment, had no insurance.

“They lost everything except the clothes on their backs,” said Guyotte of the Nelsons. The chief said he did not know what the total damage was, but estimated it would be in the thousands of dollars.

Guyotte praised the quick actions of a girl who alerted her mother to the fire, and Maggie Nelson, who quickly got her two young girls out of the building.

“The little girl said, ‘Mommy, I smell something hot,’ and her mother told her and another sister to get out,” he said. Nelson called 911. He did not have the girls’ names.

The chief said the fire started in the couple’s bedroom. He has asked an investigator from the state Fire Marshal’s Office to assist the local department in determining the cause of the fire.

He said the fire was not of suspicious origin.

“My firemen made a beautiful stop,” said Guyotte in praising the efforts of firefighters for containing the fire to two of the five rooms in the Nelson’s second-story apartment.

He said other rooms received heavy smoke damage. “If it had gotten into the attic, we would still be there,” he said Sunday.

Seven other renters, who live in three other apartment units, were evacuated. The chief said power to the building was cut off. He said the renters chose temporary shelter Saturday night, but moved back in on Sunday.

About 25 firefighters from Dover-Foxcroft, Guilford and Sangerville put the fire out and were back at the station within a few hours.

Guyotte firefighters are trying to raise enough money to pay for one month’s rent on another apartment for the Nelsons, who are staying with friends.

He said people who want to donate clothing or other needed items for the family could leave them at the fire station.