IGA reopened, but tenants still displaced following Sunday fire in PI

5 years ago

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A fire Sunday afternoon displaced residents of an apartment building next to the Star City IGA, although both the apartments and the grocery store escaped major damage, according to the Presque Isle Fire Department.

The Presque Isle Fire Department responded to the fire after it was reported at 3:18 p.m. Sunday and crews encountered a fire in an apartment on the second floor of the nine-unit building, said Presque Isle Fire Chief Darrell White.

Crews suppressed the fire in that apartment and the attic space to which it had spread, White said.

While all the units and the IGA were evacuated, the rest of the units were spared major damage and the grocery store was unaffected and open as usual Monday, White said.

The unit where the fire started was heavily damaged but the other eight units are “not in bad shape,” suffering only minor smoke damage, White said.

The apartment residents remain temporarily displaced, but the units should be reoccupied after electrical maintenance is performed and the building is cleared by code enforcement, White said.

The fire department conducted an investigation and determined that nothing suspicious was to blame, White said. With no clear cause of the fire, “We can’t rule out an electrical fire,” he said.