BRUNSWICK

Alert staff at Thornton Oaks retirement home quickly extinguished a fire on a third-floor porch this morning.

Brunswick firefighters responded at 7:20 a.m. to the complex off Baribeau Drive, where a person delivering newspapers spotted smoke outside the building, Deputy Chief Don Koslosky of the Brunswick Fire Department said today.

“ When we got there, the staff had put out the fire with buckets of water,” he said. “ They acted quickly, using five-gallon buckets.”

With light smoke showing on the first and third floor, firefighters were concerned that flames might have descended to the second floor, and so knocked holes in that floor’s ceiling to check.

None of the building’s alarms or sprinklers went off because the fire was contained outside, according to Koslosky.

No evacuation was necessary, and no injuries were reported.

Koslosky estimated damage at $200, the cost of replacing porch decking and repairing holes firefighters made in the ceiling.

He said the fire may have been ignited by an improperly discarded cigarette butt.

bbrogan@timesrecord.com