UPDATED: South Thomaston Granite Street fire ruled accidental

Wed, 12/01/2021 - 12:30pm

    SOUTH THOMASTON — The cause of a fire in South Thomaston, Monday morning, Nov. 29, 2021, has been ruled accidental in nature and electrical in category.

    According to South Thomaston Fire Chief Bryan Calderwood, the origin was traced to an area within a wall behind a sink and refrigerator. The damage caused by the fire then prompted firefighters to conduct extensive overhaul to hot spots in walls and the ceiling.

    In the first moments after finding the fire, on Granite Street, Calderwood directed some of the firefighters to establish a water supply operation, using a fire pond off Spruce Head Road, near village. Tankers from Owls Head, Cushing, and Warren stood at the ready to shuttle water to a water pool near Granite Street. However, the firefighters at the house were able to extinguish the fire with an approximate 1,000 gallons of water from the three trucks parked at the house.

    A dump tank was deployed and filled by Owls Heads’ new Engine 1, but none of the water ended up being used from the water pool.

    Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com


     

    SOUTH THOMASTON — Drive? Lane? Street? Area firefighters extinguished a structure fire, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in the Midcoast, but only after a great deal of confusion as to where the fire was actually located.

    At approximately 7:45 a.m., a contractor called his boss to report finding smoke billowing from the eaves of a house on a road called Granite. The boss, who was not on site, then reported the smoke to 911. Further information was hard to establish, leaving dispatchers to infer the location based on the few details provided by the caller: Named “Granite,” off of a road with the name Island in it, near the town line between Saint George and South Thomaston. 

    Assuming the address to be Granite Lane, off of Clark Island Road, in St. George, dispatchers directed all responders to that location, with St. George Fire Dept. taking the helm.Yet, when the first volunteer firefighter to reach the scene called dispatch to confirm the address, the true address had to be reconsidered, forcing a bit of head scratching as some fire trucks passed each other on the road. 

    Already en route, the South Thomaston fire chief considered another option, redirecting an STFD truck for a scouting mission to Granite Street, off of Island Road, in South Thomaston. Once they got close enough, smoke became visible, responders were redirected, and a change of command ensued.

    An investigator from the Maine Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate the cause of the fire.

    St. George, South Thomaston, Thomaston, Cushing, Owls Head, Rockland, and Warren firefighters responded to the call, with South Thomaston and St. George ambulances parked nearby.