By Nick Sambides, Jr.
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
EDINBURG, Maine — Firefighters found footprints trailing from an Edinburg Road house when they arrived at the height of Wednesday’s snowstorm to fight the fire that destroyed the house, they said Thursday.
No one was home, and apparently had not been home for several hours, when the fire at a two-story gambrel at 691 Edinburg Road was reported at about 7:21 p.m., Howland firefighters and Penobscot Regional Communications Center dispatchers said.
The homeowner, Ty Ewer, told firefighters he had been in the house several hours earlier working on pipes, Howland Fire Chief Phil Dawson said.
Ewer told firefighters that he splits time between the Edinburg Road house and his girlfriend’s place, the chief said.
The initial 911 caller reported fire coming through the walls, but when firefighters arrived, the fire already had started collapsing the roof.
“It definitely cannot be established from last night where it started because it was fully involved on arrival,” Dawson said Thursday. “It appears that it started upstairs because that is where it fell through first. All the other walls were more intact than the upstairs portions.”
The snowfall, which left at least a foot of snow in the area, impeded firefighters’ progress, Dawson said. It took about 10 minutes to cover the approximately three miles from the Howland station to the fire scene, which is opposite the Penobscot River about a half-mile from Passadumkeag.
“The roads were messy,” Dawson said. “The weather just adds a degree of difficulty because you have to drag through the snow, and when it’s snowing hard, constantly, you have to keep track of your gear and try to minimize how much stuff you have out there because you can lose it in the snow.
“Personally, I hate fighting fires in the snow,” he added, “but it’s a heck of a lot better than fighting them when it’s 30 degrees below zero.”
Stu Jacobs of the State Fire Marshal’s Office did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday.
Howland, which covers Edinburg, handled the fire with assistance from the Passadumkeag and Seboeis volunteer fire departments, Dawson said. About 30 firefighters responded. No one was hurt.
Copyright 2009 Bangor Daily News