By Diana Bowley
Bangor Daily News (Maine)
Copyright 2006 Bangor Daily News
DOVER-FOXCROFT, Maine -- Firefighters had to return a few times Monday night and Tuesday morning to douse flare-ups from a fire that demolished a Route 16 home.
A lightning strike caused the fire, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
The strike was so powerful that when it hit a fuse panel, it arced to a nearby fuel tank, which ruptured on both ends, Fire Chief Joe Guyotte said Tuesday.
Guyotte said about 200-plus gallons of fuel oil spilled into the basement of Randy Herring’s 11/2-story home and that fueled the fire.
The Department of Environmental Protection was called. Clean Harbors was expected to clean up the contained oil spill later Tuesday, Guyotte said.
A couple of firefighters had found a pole on fire at the corner of North and Park streets when Herring’s fire was reported, Guyotte said.
It took only seconds for the firefighters to get to the house, but even then it was too late, he said. “There was absolutely no stopping it,” he said.
Guyotte said the fire rekindled in the attic beneath steel roofing Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Firefighters rented a machine Tuesday morning to peel off the roof and extinguish any lingering embers.
Herring, who was at his job at Rowell’s Garage when he received a telephone call notifying him about the fire, said he lost two cats in the blaze. He is staying with family and plans to rebuild on the site. He was insured.