FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Fire spread from a burn of old wood pallet boxes and destroyed a Fort Fairfield potato storage building Thursday.
According to Fort Fairfield Fire Chief Vince Baldwin, the building at 41 Cheney Grove Road owned by Gene Helstrom caught fire accidently when a fire spread from a burning pile of old pallet boxes to a nearby pile of other boxes.
“The wind carried the embers igniting a larger pile of boxes that were up against the structure,” Baldwin said in a media release. The fire spread from boxes to the building and “quickly extended to the roof of the structure and into interior walls.”
Members of the Fort Fairfield Fire Department were assisted by firefighters from the Limestone, Caribou, Easton, and Presque Isle fire departments, as well as members of Crown Ambulance and the Maine State Forest Rangers, Baldwin said. The building was insured the fire chief said.
Strong winds and the spreading fire challenged the 30-plus firefighters on hand, but they were able to contain the flames to the building and some grass spots around it, Baldwin said.
The chief said one firefighter received a minor burn on his arm in the course of the fire. He was treated by personnel from Crown Ambulance and examined at The Aroostook Medical Center before being released.
