NORTHPORT — An unattended wood stove led to another Midcoast house fire in the lead-up to Christmas overnight, this time in Northport.

Northport Fire Department and other mutual aid towns, including Belfast and Lincolnville, were called out to 245 Shore Road just after 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 24.

A neighbor, Jack Driscoll, said the home next to his was a summer home.

Northport Fire Chief Mike Alley said that the fire was well underway by the time fire departments arrived.

“It was basically a cottage and the four walls were almost down when we got there so the plan was to save the two adjacent houses,” said Alley.

Alley said there were two people living in the home at the time.

“I don’t know their names, but it was the daughter of the homeowner and her boyfriend,” said Alley. “According to them, they came home to start a fire in the stove to warm up the house and then they went back out and they said they came back about five or 10 minutes later and the wall where the wood stove and chimney were was on fire.”

Alley said the young man said he went in to try and put the fire out a couple of times, until he was finally overcome by smoke and heat and had to stop the effort.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” said Alley. “When there’s a fire, you need to get out and stay out.”

For this fire, which he said is not suspicious in origin, Alley said the State Fire Marshal’s Office would not be called to investigate. He said all fire units cleared the scene around 8:15 a.m. Tuesday. As many as 25 firefighters responded to the call in Northport early this morning, according to Alley.

Prior to the fire, Alley said his department had been out all day Monday until around 11 p.m., dealing with downed lines and power lines.

“And then during the fire, there were two or three more calls for downed limbs and trees,” said Alley.

Some of the roads around and connecting to Shore Road are impassable, while a large tree was still laying low across power lines on the south end of Shore Road late Tuesday morning.

Alley said that as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, about 50 percent of Northport was without power. But a check of Central Maine Power’s outage report shows that all 1,279 of its customers are in the cold, if not the dark, Tuesday.

A home in Union was heavily damaged by fire late Monday afternoon, when six towns responded to battle the blaze. According to family, power was out and a candle inside the home was knocked over onto a couch by a pet cat.

Nearly 18,500 customers in Waldo County are without power still Christmas Eve day, and many of those customers lost their power sometime Monday, when accumulating ice began to take its toll on limbs, branches and power lines.

Kennebec County and Waldo County were hard hit areas, as far as CMP’s electric service is concerned.

Belfast city and county courts are closed and half of the downtown remains without power Tuesday morning, although some of the larger businesses are able to remain open today because of generators

Waldo County EMA and the American Red Cross have a shelter open at Troy Howard Middle School. The shelter was opened Monday evening, and while just one person stayed overnight Monday, if electricity remains out others may seek refuge, hot food, a cot to sleep on and a warm shower. For information about the shelter, including transportation if needed, call 338-3870.

Related stories:

• Waldo County EMA director seeking individual ice storm impacts for disaster declaration application
• Snow-packed Waldoboro driveway hinders firefighters' attempt to save home
• Red Cross provides comfort, cots to those in need
• UPDATED: CMP crews restore power to more than 100,000 customers as ice storm recovery continues
• Snow in the forecast: Iced-up Midcoast to get the most
• Christmas Eve fire destroys garage at Lincolnville home
• Central Maine Power issues power restoration update, 7 p.m., Christmas Eve
• Storm damage lingers with extensive power outages; Waldo and Knox county shelters, warming centers open
• UPDATE: Belfast, Lincolnville called to help battle overnight house fire in Northport
• UPDATE - Fire heavily damages Union home; family says cat knocked over a candle
• Waldo County EMA, Red Cross shelter open at Troy Howard Middle School
• UPDATED - Storm closings and cancellations; Ice storm warning extended to 7 p.m.
• UPDATED: Lincolnville bearing brunt of power outage, trees falling onto wires, into roads
• It's icy out there, be careful
• UPDATED: Ice storm warning - Freezing rain on snow, make way for a big mess

Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards can be reached at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com or 706-6655.