Cause of fatal fire remains unknown

FARMINGTON – Officials say they may not be able to determine the exact cause of a fatal fire in Farmington because of the amount of damage to the burned building.

Philip Lindsey, 21, died in the fire. Lindsey, from Waynesboro, Miss., had been living in a two-room cabin at the Twin Ponds campground while working at SW&B, a contractor doing construction work for International Paper in Jay.

Office manager Sheldon Nightingale said Lindsey came to Maine as a temporary worker on Feb. 2 and would have finished his job at the end of March.

Spokesman Stephen McCausland of the Maine Public Safety Department said the fire broke out just before 3 a.m. Wednesday. He said a man who shared the cabin with Lindsey had not slept there Tuesday night.

McCausland said a truck driver reported the fire from an Irving gas station a quarter-mile from the cabin. The cabin was ablaze when firefighters from the Farmington Fire Department arrived.

McCausland said the cabin had a smoke detector that was in working order when it was checked two weeks ago.

Sgt. Ken Grimes of the state Fire Marshal’s Office said the fire was under control when he arrived at the scene at about 4:15 a.m.

Grimes said the fire started in the room in which Lindsey was sleeping. He said the fire was accidental but said a specific cause may not be identified.

“There are a number of possible reasons for the fire, none of which we can conclusively determine because of the extent of the damage inside the building,” Grimes said.

He said Lindsey’s body was found when firefighters, after tackling the main part of the fire, used a thermal imaging camera to search the cabin.