WALDOBORO — Firefighters faced a series of challenges, Thursday evening in Waldoboro, while responding to, and fighting a fire in a house whose last confirmed occupant passed away in the spring.

As of 8 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 27, Waldoboro FD, Waldoboro Police, and neighbors were continuing to establish who, if anyone, owns and/or occupied the property at 200 Depot Street that is now under investigation by the Fire Marshal’s Office.

Just after 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Waldoboro Chief Paul Smeltzer arrived to Depot Street following a report of smoke in the area of the railroad tracks. Smeltzer determined the smoke’s location as being far into the woods; he then located a long narrow unpaved driveway.

“The long driveway and the poor condition of the driveway and the low hanging trees, and how narrow it was, was the biggest challenge of trying to fight the fire,” he said.

The driveway became so narrow, according to Smeltzer, that at the advice of a police officer who’d come before him, he stopped his truck on the side and walked the rest of the way in. Once on scene, he found a fully-involved, one-story house among high, unmowed grass. 

After striking first and second alarms for Waldoboro, Damariscotta, Jefferson, Bremen, Union, Friendship, Warren, Nobleboro, and Washington, Smeltzer went to work organizing the placement of trucks along the driveway. He started with Waldoboro’s Engine 4, a 4-wheel drive international, used for wood fires, and brush fires. After that, another truck was driven in as far as it could go. With those trucks as anchors, a reverse lay was established to nearby Depot Street hydrants, and the tankers that were dispatched from Union, Warren, and Washington were turned back to their stations as not needed. 

“As soon as we were able to establish a water hydrant, I released all companies that were tankers, returned them back to their towns, and only kept manpower on,” he said.

With hoses established, however, water could only be put into use from one outlying spot, due to live powerlines on the ground, and an approximate 30 minute wait for CMP. Once the fire could be attacked and knocked down, some “stuff’ could be seen within the house, according to Smeltzer. Yet, in the aftermath of the fully-engulfed structure, the “stuff” was too damaged to indicate whether a person lived there. 

Depot Street was closed from its entrance at Route 1 (the same intersection as the fire station) to the driveway entrance. This closed area also included railroad tracks. 

“We did notify the railroad because we did lay a line across it,” said Smeltzer. “They had no trains scheduled to be coming through the area at this time, but we did notify them in case they did have to shut it down.”

Thomaston’s ladder truck stood by at Waldoboro’s station to cover any other Waldoboro fire calls that might have been reported during that time, and to stage for the current fire. 

No injuries were reported.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com