Fire burns 130 acres in Robbinston

ROBBINSTON – Firefighters remained through the night on the scene of a 130-acre woods fire that leveled a camp and left others anxiously waiting to see if the fire would threaten their homes.

The fire started around noon on Mount Holly Road. When firefighters from Robbinston arrived they found a camp in flames.

“It was almost flat and [the fire] quickly spread to the woods,” District Ranger Jeff Currier of the Maine Forest Service said of the camp Sunday. “[Firefighters] had adequate resources here but with this gusty wind and the dry conditions we’ve been having it took off and ran.”

Robbinston Fire Chief Bob Merrill immediately called for backup and firefighters from Harrington to Calais rushed manpower and equipment to the fire. Merrill also called in the Maine Forest Service.

As the fire consumed more and more acreage one firefighter was heard to say over the scanner, “This one’s got legs, I haven’t seen one this bad in a long time.”

Two Hewey helicopters from the Maine Forest Service ferried water to the site, dumping thousands of gallons on the fire, while firefighters working with bulldozers and firetrucks fought it on the ground. New Brunswick offered to send the province’s water bombers.

“At the time that offer came we were confident we would be able to hold it with our own resources,” Currier said.

As more firefighters arrived they were directed to points around the fire.

Firefighters from Charlotte and Perry set up their attack area on a gravel road about four miles off Ridge Road in Robbinston. As they battled the fire on one side of the road, the wind gusted and the fire jumped high over their head onto the other side of the road, one firefighter recounted. With a new fuel source the fire quickly spread through the dry grass and trees and up the hill. The firefighters remained in hot pursuit.

“It was a very active fire. It was torching trees left and right and when the fire gets into the crowns of the trees and with the wind that we had it can become a crown fire,” Currier said. “This was pretty extreme. It is what we call a Kodak moment. You want to take your pictures; it’s pretty impressive. You don’t see it a lot but it is always possible in Maine with the forest condition we have and especially with the dry conditions we have.”

Perry Fire Chief Paula Frost said Sunday she didn’t expect the firefighters would get a line around the whole fire until sometime early this morning.

Shortly after the fire took hold, Frost said people were ordered to stand by for a possible evacuation. But Currier said firefighters were able to get a handle on it before the order was given.

“With the smoke carrying through the woods up to the Sherman Road and onto Mount Holly and over to Nash’s Lake people were obviously concerned,” Currier said.

But amid all of the confusion, some people did leave their homes. Shortly after the fire started, police officers asked people just off Keene’s Lake Road to leave their houses as the fire started to approach the Robbinston-Calais town line.

“The wind is very strong, the woods are very dry and the fire has overrun them five times,” one police officer said. “The checkpoints are changing minute by minute.”

Mary Lane, who lives on Nash’s Lake, said she saw a lot of smoke, but no fire from her home.

“We met someone who is a volunteer fireman who said get your pets and get out of there. So we kind of cleared the area,” Lane said.

But residents were home hours later after firefighters were able to block the fire from burning more land.

Smoke from the fire could be smelled as far away as an area known as “the stretch” on Route 1 in Calais, about five miles from the heart of the fire.

Firefighters remained on the fire line Sunday night. “This is a big event for the fire community in this area and this is what mutual aid is all about,” Currier said. He estimated there were about 50 firefighters on the line. Others were carrying fuel and food to the firefighters.

There were no injuries.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office will be called in.

“We will determine if it started in the structure and spread to the woods or vice versa,” the forest ranger said.