Gouldsboro man charged after home burns

GOULDSBORO – A local man has been arrested in connection with a fire on Thursday that destroyed a manufactured home on Light House Point Road, according to local officials.

Sherman Frank Merchant, 40, has been charged with arson and is being held at the Hancock County Jail for 48 hours while the State Fire Marshal’s Office continues its investigation into the blaze, Gouldsboro Police Chief Guy Wycoff said Friday.

“That could change as of Monday,” Wycoff said of Merchant’s incarceration. Wycoff referred other questions about the fire to state investigators.

Officials with the State Fire Marshal’s Office could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

The fire was first noticed around 9 p.m. Thursday and reported by guards at the nearby Naval Satellite Operations Center, according to Gouldsboro Assistant Fire Chief James Souders. He said Friday that 20 firefighters from Gouldsboro and neighboring Winter Harbor were at the scene until 1 a.m. and had to return for another four hours after flames sprang back to life around 3:30 a.m.

“It was pretty fully involved, but we were able to knock it down,” Souders said. “It was cooked.”

Firefighters initially had the blaze under control within 20 to 30 minutes before it started up again hours later, he said.

Souders said State Fire Marshal’s Office investigators were at the scene Friday morning and have not officially determined how the fire started. “It is under investigation,” he said.

Souders said the home was being rented by a woman who has been away for some time. He said he did not know the renter’s name or who owned the trailer.

“I don’t think anybody was living in it right now,” Souders said. “It’s been out there a long time.”

No one was injured in the fire, the assistant chief said. He said he did not know whether the home was insured.

The fire appears to have begun in the middle of the structure, Souders said. Both the home and its contents were destroyed by the flames and smoke.