Glue ignites, causing roof fire at Brewer High

BREWER – Roofers working on a building housing the music room at Brewer High School were surprised Monday to see 8-foot flames springing up all around them, briefly cutting off their escape route to the ground, Fire Chief Rick Bronson said.

The fire, reported about 1:15 p.m., apparently was caused by static electricity created as the workers were replacing the roof of the 9,000-square-foot building, which is part of the main school complex.

Despite the flames and thick black smoke, the fire was put out quickly and with only one minor injury.

“The glue that they put the stuff down with is tremendously, tremendously flammable,” Bronson said. “This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it’s not going to be the last.”

The flames briefly cut off access to the ladder the workers used to reach the ground, he said. Some of the half-dozen roofers from Bangor’s Roof Systems of Maine were still visibly in shock when firefighters reached them, Bronson said.

The building has space for four foreign language classrooms and houses a music room on one end.

Three Brewer firetrucks went to the school on Parkway South, but the flames were basically out by the time they arrived, Assistant Principal Brian Doyle said.

“We emptied four or five fire extinguishers on it and it pretty much extinguished it,” he said.

Drawn by the billowing black smoke, people from all around the area converged on a school parking lot near the Hannaford supermarket to see what was going on.

One of those who showed up at the school was high school music director Brady Harris.

“My wife called me and said the music room is on fire,” he said.

The music room did not have any fire damage.

One of the Roof Systems of Maine employees suffered a minor burn, but no other injuries were reported, Bronson said.

After the fire, roofers and firefighters could be seen on top of the building removing burned panels, and a firefighter used a thermal imaging camera to ensure there were no hot spots.