Flames take historic home in Newburgh

NEWBURGH – Richard Clements, 75, was putting a strawberry pie into his oven Sunday morning when he happened to look out the kitchen window and notice flames were devouring the historic home that he grew up in behind his cottage.

“This home was almost 200 years old,” he said in a deep Maine accent as he watched firefighters douse the smoldering remains. “It’s about the oldest place in Newburgh, I believe. It’s been here a long, long time.”

Clements noticed the fire just before 9 a.m. and immediately turned off his oven and called emergency crews. Approximately 30 firefighters from Newburgh, Dixmont and Hampden arrived at the scene to find the Mudgett Road home in flames.

“It’s believed to have started in the kitchen,” Newburgh Fire Chief Gary Sibley said Sunday morning while taking a break from applying water to the remaining flames.

With Sunday’s high winds and the fact that the building was beyond saving, the firefighters mostly worked to save adjoining structures, Sibley said.

“We kept it from spreading from the structure to the barn,” he said.

A second barn, a garage and children’s playhouse also remained standing after the majority of the fire was extinguished. A blackened computer, bodybuilding weights and a half-burned doormat could be seen in the rubble.

The homestead, located across the street from the town’s salt shed, was considered a historic building when Clements’ father purchased it about 80 years ago.

“I wasn’t even born,” the Newburgh resident said. “To see the old homestead gone is sad.”

Clements sold the historic home to Clarence Homestead, a home builder, three years ago. Homestead wasn’t home at the time of the fire, but it is believed that he does have insurance.

“I’ll miss the old homestead. I lived there all my life,” Clements said. “It will be a big change.”