ROCKPORT — It had taken seven months to clean out the house – to fill the tractor trailer with clothing and possessions associated with the owner’s mother-in-law, who’d already passed away. 

Thursday afternoon, June 17, 2021, fire took hold of a shed, a solar-powered privy, an airstream camper, and a trailer at 290 Mount Pleasant Street, in Rockport, leaving the owner perplexed as to the fire’s origin, yet also confounded by the coincidence of the day’s agenda.

The owner had planned to make a dump run this afternoon, then pick up his wife’s medication.

“I should have been gone already,” he said. “Had I left even 30 minutes earlier, this entire lot would have gone up in flames.”

Because he was home, he was able to account for the safety of his wife and secure his many dogs from the sirens, firetrucks, hoses, and firefighters who answered the 1:18 p.m. dispatch from Knox Regional Communications. 

Crews from Rockport, Hope, Warren, Lincolnville, and Rockland contained the worst of the flames, but not before heavy black smoke created its own smoke signal in the sky, visible throughout the area. Camden FD also responded, but was called away to assist with a report of missing hikers. At the fire, as some firefighters worked to extinguish the structure fires, others engaged portable pumps and forestry equipment in the wooded area adjacent to the burn site.

Maine Forestry Department is investigating.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com