WASHINGTON — A fire in the dormitory at the Advent Christian Campground at the corner of Dorman and McDowell roads in Washington early Monday night, Aug. 22, ultimately destroyed a total of five buildings before firefighters could get it under control.

Washington Fire Chief Phil Munier Tuesday morning called the fire at the campground “one of my nightmares.” He said that the camp consisted of approximately 50 small camps, “all about 3-feet apart.”

He said that at the time, the campground was unoccupied. The most recent camping session ended Aug. 14.

“They had a big event here last week, but luckily nobody was here at this time,” said Munier.

Despite the loss, Munier praised the response by mutual aid towns in keeping the fire from spreading further.

“I have to praise all the towns there,” he said. “They did an awesome job and we stopped it right where we said we were going to stop it.”

Munier was the first to arrive on scene, and when he got there just after the 7:30 p.m. call, the large two-story dormitory and kitchen was fully involved. Next to the main dormitory were three smaller camps and a children’s chapel, according to Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland. All five of those buildings were destroyed.

“By the time we were set up, the building next to it started to burning,” said Munier. “While the mutual aid departments were setting up, we were working to stop it from spreading beyond those buildings, which we ultimately succeeded in doing.”

Automatic mutual aid towns that responded with Washington included Liberty, Jefferson, Somerville and Union. More water was needed, so Munier requested tankers from Appleton, Hope and Whitefield to respond, as well.

Munier said the fire was completely knocked down in about 90 minutes, with some delay in being able to move closer to the fire and do major work in battling it caused by downed power lines. That required Central Maine Power to respond and cut the power.

He said there were no reported injuries, but that Union Fire Department’s portable water pool sustained some heat damage.

The scene was cleared around midnight. The state Fire Marshal’s Office was called to investigate, and an investigator was back on the scene Tuesday morning.

Tuesday afternoon, Munier said the cause of the fire is undetermined, but that the investigation is continuing.

A former firefighter in Hope, Ray Sisk is director of Knox County Emergency Management, and was on scene Monday night representing the agency. He shared this on the Knox EMA FB page, along with some photos:

“Great response and fire stop by Washington Fire Dept. and six (sic) other mutual aid department's tonight! Although several buildings at the camp were lost, many more were saved. Congrats on a job done exceptionally well by all involved! Cool headed dispatching by Knox Regional Communications Center contributed to successful outcome.”

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655.