Glenburn fire leaves family homeless

GLENBURN – A devastating electric stove fire that gutted a two-story home on Sunday evening has left a family homeless and one cat dead.

It’s the second time in a few years that fire has destroyed the home of Tera Waldington and her family.

The rental home, occupied by Waldington and five others, at least some of whom are related, is located at 290 Cedar Breeze North, near the end of a partially paved road.

Two teenage girls were boiling potatoes for dinner on the electric stove, according to Glenburn Fire Chief Kevin Chase. The girls had ignited the wrong burner, and some debris in or near the burner caught fire. The flames rapidly traveled up the wall behind the stove while the girls got themselves and another person outside, where they used a cordless phone to call for help.

Waldington was not home at the time.

Fire departments from Glenburn, Hudson, Kenduskeag and Bangor, as well as Penobscot County sheriff’s deputies, answered the call shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The shell of the house, which sits back about 100 yards from the road, was mostly intact Monday, but the roof and interior were significantly damaged by the blaze.

“It was totally engulfed by the time we got there,” Chase said Monday afternoon. “There were between 30 and 35 people fighting the fire.”

When firefighters arrived, they made attempts to put out the flames from inside the home but soon were driven outside to mount a defensive attack.

“It was just too hot,” David Braley, Glenburn fire captain, said. “We backed out.”

Flames were fanned higher by drafts caused by the many open doors and windows throughout the home, firefighters said.

“There was almost a total roof collapse,” Braley said. “It was difficult for the first 20 minutes.”

The crews battled the flames for four hours, saving a two-car garage next to the home. The home was surrounded by woods and no neighbors’ homes were threatened.

After the fire was extinguished, firefighters found the body of one cat in the basement. Because the family members at the scene were not sure how many pet cats they had, the fate of at least one out of four or five cats was unknown Monday afternoon. Both their dogs were fine.

Because the fire moved so quickly and did so much damage, the State Fire Marshal’s Office will check the home to verify that the fire was caused by the electric stove.

Waldington and her family are being put up by the Red Cross in a Bangor hotel.

Chase said that two or three years ago, Waldington and her family were burned out of a home in Old Town.

“You wouldn’t think that it would [happen twice], but it happens to a lot of people,” the fire chief said.

The home, owned by Martin Mueller, who is in Switzerland, was a total loss, fire officials said. They did not know whether the home was insured or the amount of estimated damage caused by the fire.

NEWS reporter Eric Russell contributed to this report.