A Stillwater man was injured around 8:30 p.m. Thursday when he lost control of his motorcycle on rough roads in Greenbush, said Penobscot County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Knight.

Dale Holmes, 42, was riding behind another motorcyclist on Greenfield Road when his 1980 Kawasaki hit a bump in the road, causing the bike to crash, Knight said.

Holmes suffered head, shoulder and foot injuries and road rash, and was taken Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, the deputy said. The injuries were not life-threatening, he added.

Holmes had a helmet with him but was not wearing it at the time of the crash.

The accident crushed the front headlight and damaged other parts of the bike.

Speed was not a factor but the “bumpy” road conditions were, Knight said. (Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN)

Sparks from the brakes of a Pan Am Railways train ignited dry materials along the tracks at the Hampden-Bangor line around 2:40 p.m. Thursday, causing a cloud of black smoke to rise into the air.

The fire on Carey Circle centered on a pile of railroad ties along the tracks, Hampden firefighter and EMT Jason Lundstrom, the scene commander, said Thursday night.

When crews arrived they found “heavy black smoke just west of Dennis Paper off [Route] 202,” he said. “It burned an eighth of an acre.”

A forest ranger determined “a brake shoe on one of the railcars” caused the sparks, Lundstrom said. Firefighters from Brewer and Bangor assisted Hampden crews in extinguishing the fire. Crews left the area at 5:30 p.m. and Lundstrom and another firefighter checked the area for flare-ups at 8:30 p.m.

No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.

“This is the third time this year it’s happened,” Lundstrom said referring to fires along the tracks. (Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN)