Stove Fire Routs Tenants In Eastport - Jul. 22, 2012
EASTPORT, Maine - (WQDY NEWS) - A call came for a fire alarm activation at the Follis Place Apartments in Eastport at 12:24 p.m. Sunday.
Eastport police were on the scene first.
Chief John Preston and Officer Mark Emery headed upstairs to apartment 203 but couldn't get a response at the door from the tenant.
"We kicked it in and Officer Emery found a fire going on the stove. He retrieved a fire extinguisher and put out the fire while I searched the apartment for any sign of life," Preston told WQDY NEWS.
EASTPORT ENGINE 1 -WQDY NEWS PHOTO
Eastport firefighters arrived, checked the stove and kitchen to be sure the fire was indeed out and hadn't extended into the wall. They also brought a smoke ejector to help air out the apartment.
Some of the other tenants who left the complex waited in the parking lot while others who were were not as ambulatory waited upstairs. There was no danger to those who remained inside, Preston said.
Fire Chief Richard Clark characterized the incident as "a mistake that nobody knows how it happened."
"A stored bag of flour on the stove and the stove mysteriously got turned on. There was a dog in there...," Clark said.
The dog was not harmed.
The fire alarm system in the complex is new and Chief Clark said, "it did its job."
The tenant whose apartment it was arrived back at the scene while fire crews getting ready to leave but was at a loss to explain to officials as to how his stove may have gotten turned on.
STORY/PICTURE: Tom McLaughlin WQDY-WALZ news@wqdy.fm
