Stove ashes melt bucket, cause smoldering fire in Lincolnville cabin’s floor
Woodstove ashes, thought to be cold, were placed into this plastic bucket, which eventually melted from the heat of the smoldering embers inside it. The bucket was also located inside the cabin on Tanglewood Road in Lincolnville, where a smoldering fire between the floor boards was called in late Saturday morning. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
Lincolnville fiefighter AJ Weed works to remove the floor boards and expose the smoldering fire, which was drenched with water to put it out. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
Embers fell between the floorboards, and landed on this blown-in insulation, causing a smoldering fire. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
Woodstove ashes, thought to be cold, were placed into this plastic bucket, which eventually melted from the heat of the smoldering embers inside it. The bucket was also located inside the cabin on Tanglewood Road in Lincolnville, where a smoldering fire between the floor boards was called in late Saturday morning. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
Lincolnville fiefighter AJ Weed works to remove the floor boards and expose the smoldering fire, which was drenched with water to put it out. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
Embers fell between the floorboards, and landed on this blown-in insulation, causing a smoldering fire. (Photo courtesy Lincolnville Fire Department)
LINCOLNVILLE — Late Saturday morning, firefighters from Lincolnville, Northport and Camden were called to a cabin deep down Tanglewood Road in Lincolnville, where occupants had realized that ashes removed earlier from a woodstove had melted through the bucket they were in and caused a smoldering fire in the floor underneath.
Lincolnville Fire Chief Ben Hazen said that this is the third or fourth fire call involving woodstove or fireplace ashes being placed into a plastic bucket, which then melted due to smoldering embers, which then reignited or heated up enough to melt the bucket.
"It's very important to make sure you also put ashes in a metal bucket," said Hazen. "And embers can remain hot for up to 10 days, so make sure the bucket is also placed well away from structures and combustibles."
Report of the Tanglwood Road fire came in at 10:48 a.m. The roads at the time were snow covered and greasy, said Hazen, so just one engine and a plow truck ventured down the narrow winding road, where the cabin was located on the water tower road. He said the rental cabin, which was being used by college students, was detached from one of the smaller lodges and did not have electricity.
Hazen said that the students, thinking the stove was cool, took a plastic bucket and emptied the contents into it. He said it took a while for the plastic bucket bottom to burn through, but when it did, embers dropped down through the floor into the insulation below and smoldered before someone realized what was happening.
"If people had not been around, it would have eventually caught the building on fire," said Hazen. "To put it out, we went under the backside of the cabin and pried the flooring holding the insulation up, and then pried up the floorboards where the embers had fallen down."
Hazen said they soaked the area between the floor joists and advised the students to go over throughout the day and check on it for any potential issues.
Due to the snowy road conditions, the remainder of Lincolnville's responding engines, along with Camden's, remained off scene at Tanglewood and Ducktrap roads until Hazen and the small crew with him cleared the scene.
Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 706-6655.
Event Date
Address
1 Tanglewood Road
Lincolnville, ME 04849
United States
