UPDATE: An investigator from the state Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that a garage fire on Central Street, in Camden, was accidental.

The cause of the fire at 24 Central Street, Tuesday, Aug. 27, began inside lithium batteries within an electric car. 

The Tuesday fire was the second garage fire on Central Street in five days. The other fire, at 21 Central Street, Friday, Aug. 23, was also determined to be accidental.

CAMDEN — An investigation by the Fire Marshal’s Office has been requested following the second structure fire in less then a week involving a detached workspace on Central Street.

Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 3:19 p.m., fire crews headed back to the quiet Camden street, parking their engines a few feet from the spots they’d vacated midday Friday, Aug. 23.

The Tuesday fire broke out inside a garage at 24 Central Street that was used as a creative workspace for tinkering with and building mini automobiles.

According to Fire Chief Chris Farley, an investigation into the Friday workshop fire at 21 Central Street concluded that the fire started in the wiring of a table saw. However, the coincidence of two such workshop fires, a few days apart, and a few feet apart, left people wondering. 

EMTs from North East Mobile Health Services stood by for both fires as firefighters from Camden, Rockport, Hope, and Lincolnville brought hoses to the structures and sprayed down items in storage.

Crews knocked down Tuesday’s fire quickly, with little – if any – flame showing from the street. They then spent another hour or so searching for hot spots with their thermal imaging camera and thoroughly soaking the structure’s beams and storage items. 

More details will be added to this article as they become available.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com