Fire destroys home in Cherryfield

CHERRYFIELD – Fire destroyed a home on Cherryfield Ridge Road on Tuesday morning.

No one was at the residence when the fire started, according to Fire Chief Charles Curtis Sr. of the Cherryfield Volunteer Fire Department. The initial call came in about 10 a.m.

“It was fully engulfed when we got there,” Curtis said. “There was not much we could do. It was a total loss.”

Curtis said the family’s last name was Kimball, but he did not know the first names or how many people lived in the home.

He said there were two pickup trucks in the dooryard, and initially firefighters feared someone might be trapped in the burning building.

“We learned that they have three vehicles,” Curtis said. “The pickups were sitting on ice, so we were able to hook onto them and pull them away. So we salvaged two pickups.”

No one was injured in the fire.

Firefighters were able to knock down the fire fairly quickly, he said. About 15 firefighters came to the scene from Cherryfield, Steuben, Milbridge and Columbia, under mutual aid agreements.

“We were able to get a good flow of water going,” Curtis said.

Firefighters were able to draw water from a deep well at Cherryfield Foods, a short distance from the fire scene.

Firefighters spent all afternoon at the scene making sure there were no hot spots. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined, Curtis said. Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office were on the scene Tuesday afternoon in an effort to discover how the blaze started.

The Kimballs had lived in their home for about one year, according to Curtis. It was not known whether the home was insured. The American Red Cross has been notified, but as of Tuesday evening, he said, there was no information about where the family would stay.