WARREN – As Warren firefighters cleared the scene of a rekindled permit burn Saturday afternoon, May 5, Cushing responders reported to another permit burn on the River Road that got out of control.

Owners of the Cushing property obtained their permit online, despite early morning high winds that brought down trees and power lines in the area. By afternoon, gusts had dissipated somewhat, yet heat and dry conditions still plagued burn attempts.

Those conditions, along with any factors made apparent by the subsequent Forestry Service investigation, assisted in the quarter-acre blaze that started to move, uncontrolled, toward the neighbor’s house around 4:15 p.m. The fire was stopped long before any structures could be damaged.

“I would never have issued this permit, if it had been me,” Cushing Fire Chief Arthur Kiskila said as he oversaw his volunteer crew on scene. “A lot of those weather conditions come out of Augusta. In Augusta, the wind’s not blowing. Yet, it’s typical for it to get windy on the coast, especially in the afternoons.”

For the Warren responders, who happened to be awaiting results of a Forestry Service investigation involving a permitted burn that had rekindled on Tuesday, Saturday afternoon’s dousing of hot spots was the result of a permit burn from the day before.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Saturday, May 5, Knox County Communications Center received a third-party report of an unattended burn along a section of Oyster River Road in Warren. Despite the owner’s repeated dousings of the post-fire region within the wooded lot Friday evening, as well as rechecking again Saturday morning, hidden sparks continued to smolder.

“He had put it all down and with that wind and heat today, it was just enough to rekindle it,” Chief Greg Andrews said.

Andrews estimated that approximately 15 to 20 firefighters responded to today’s call at the future house lot, and though the cause of the rekindle is not considered suspicious, the Forestry Service has been notified.

Andrews could not say when the Forestry Warden would arrive, considering previous investigation sites, which includes the Tuesday burn off of the Eastern Road on the Warren side of Stetsons.

“That one was supposedly a permitted burn from a week ago Thursday,” he said. “I haven’t heard back from the Warden on that one. She’s still investigating.”

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com