RICHMOND — Four fire departments responded Sunday afternoon to a pickup truck on fire at the Exit 43 Quik Stop on Main Street.

Richmond Fire Chief Andy Pierce said firefighters were called to the vehicle fire at 12:50 p.m. Upon arrival, they found a 2000 Chevy pickup truck was fully involved.

Because the truck fire burned near gas tanks and propane tanks, fire crews evacuated the store. The truck was parked next to the Quik Stop on the end nearest the adjacent Dunkin’ Donuts, Pierce said.

Crews from Bowdoinham and Bowdoin provided mutual aid. Because no fire hydrants are located near the site of the truck fire, both brought an engine and a tanker.

On a day when wind created havoc for crews fighting brush fires elsewhere in Maine, the wind aided the effort to douse the flames emanating from the burning pickup. The wind blew the flames toward the corner of the building in the direction of the Dunkin’ Donuts, keeping flames from burning more of the side of the building or spreading up into the roof, Pierce said. Nevertheless, heat from the blaze broke store windows and melted siding.

The fire was knocked down within 30 minutes or less, Pierce said, though once he arrived on scene, “it looked like (fire) had extended into the store, so I also called for Dresden’s tanker.”

Pierce said that a closer investigation revealed that heat, not fire, damaged the store. He estimated the flames stretched within 10 feet of the propane tanks, which crews did not move but kept cool with water.

“We popped the ceiling panel and went up inside the store,” Pierce said, but found no extension of the fire. He estimated the damage to the store to be around $3,000. The pickup truck was destroyed, but no one was injured.

Pierce said the Topsham woman who had been driving the pickup truck said the battery light had come one. When she pulled into the Exit 43 Quik Stop, the truck shut off. She was trying to restart it, Pierce said, when someone came over to tell her the truck was on fire beneath the hood, apparently due to an electrical malfunction.

dmoore@timesrecord.com