Houlton Fire Dept. faces second electrical fire of July

A call came into to the Houlton Fire Department on Wednesday evening after a motorist driving by the corner of Chandler and Cleveland Street noticed smoke rising into the sky from the backside of a house.
    Houlton Fire Department quickly responded to the call at 27 Chandler Street, and were on the scene at 4:30 p.m. with three pieces of apparatus.
The fire, which started in a second story bedroom, sparked from excessive use of an extension cord, was contained within one bedroom on the back side of the second floor of the building and burned for over an hour and a half. The roof on the backside of the building was seriously damaged, and there was heat, water and smoke damage done to the entire house.
No one was in the house when the fire began and no one was injured due to the fire.
The 23 firefighters on the scene took action from both inside and out, as a few men at the backside of the house tried to restrict the flames from outside the building until the men on the inside reached the second floor  fire and were able to extinguished it completely from there.
There were no working fire alarms in the building, according to Fire Chief Milton Cone, but owner Mike White, who lives in the house with his wife and child, did have insurance on the building.
“A working smoke detector cuts your chances of dying in a home fire in half. With situations like this we want to make sure that everyone has a working smoke detector on every level of the home,” Cone pressed.
This fire is the second in Houlton this month caused by use of an extension cord. Cone believes that the issue springs from houses not having enough outlets for fans, air-conditioners, etc., along with the normal electric appliances in the house, during the hot summer months.
“This seems to be a little bit unusual, we haven’t had too many structure fires like this is some time, especially with both of them being electrical in nature,” said Cone.
According to the chief, the problem may only get worse this winter as homeowners will start using electric heaters due to the high price of oil.
“People need to be cautious and aware of some of the things that can cause a fire to occur, and need to check these things out,” explained Cone.
This year’s fire prevention theme deals with the hazards and prevention of home fires. Houlton Fire Department is considering starting the annual fire prevention awareness project early this year due to the irregular number of house fires recently, to increase public knowledge before citizens of Houlton start heating their homes for the winter months.