Fire destroys Molunkus home

MOLUNKUS – Firefighters from five towns could do little to combat a fire that ravaged a two-story house on Aroostook Road on Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured. The house and a nearby garage were total losses, firefighters said.

Mattawamkeag, Kingman, Patton, Sherman and Stacyville volunteer and paid firefighters were called to 118 Aroostook Road at about 4:30 p.m. When the first firetruck from Mattawamkeag arrived at about 4:55 p.m., the situation looked just about hopeless, Deputy Fire Chief Mike Coombs said.

Heavy flames and smoke were pouring out of the two-story wood-frame building at several points, he said.

“It was a defensive attack right from the beginning,” he said. “The second floor had already started to collapse onto the first. There was no possibility of an interior attack at all.”

Firefighters from Kingman arrived almost right behind Mattawamkeag’s trucks, and the other three towns’ companies came five to 10 minutes afterward.

The 911 call that summoned firefighters was routed through the Aroostook County dispatch center, and the dispatcher there wasn’t sure who covered that portion of Aroostook Road, so he sent all of the area’s fire departments, Coombs said.

Still, all the extra help, while needed, could do little more than surround the building and pour water onto the roof and areas where flames were showing, Coombs said.

Several 100-pound propane bottles near the house, possibly used for a cooking stove or stoves, vented but did not explode, Coombs said.

“They’re made to release gas and it sounds like a jet engine going off. It’s just so hot,” he said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined. The state fire marshal’s investigation is continuing.