BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick Fire Department extinguished a fire at a residence on Hovey Lane today they say was set by a juvenile with a lighter.

Firefighters were dispatched to the fire at 1:10 p.m. and arrived on scene three minutes later. The fire was knocked down within 10 minutes.

Upon arrival, Captain Chris Fairbanks said there was smoke coming from the building and when firefighters entered the building they found a small fire in the kitchen area and quickly extinguished it and ventilated the building. A miniature artificial Christmas tree and some papers that had been on the counter burned.

The house was damaged by smoke and will need to be cleaned before it is habitable.
Fairbanks said Wednesday night the circumstances surrounding the fire remain under investigation.

Firefighters were then called to Brunswick Apartments at 4:15 p.m. today for a fire on a kitchen stove, called in by a passerby who could see the fire in the second-story apartment in Building J from a window near the stove.

When crews arrived, Fairbanks said they found the fire out and light smoke in the apartment, which belongs to a Bowdoin College student. A plastic bowl left on the stove had melted and burned.

Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras and made sure the fire hadn’t spread and ventilated the second-floor apartments with fans. They then reset the fire alarm which was triggered and turned the undamaged building back over to Bowdoin College, clearing the scene at 4:40 p.m.

At nearly the same time as Brunswick Fire Department was called to the apartment kitchen fire, Topsham Fire Department was called to 48 Augusta Road (Route 201) in Topsham for report of a fire on a deck that had caught the outside of the house on fire.

Fire Chief Brian Stockdale said when he arrived, there were some small flames showing after the homeowners had put some water on the fire themselves. Firefighters put some water on the fire, extinguished it and removed any smoldering and charged boards from the deck and moved them away from the building. Stockdale said the fire burned away part of the deck and some of the wood siding on the house but didn’t extend inside the structure. The home had a smell of smoke but didn’t require ventilation.

The damage to the home, owned by Angel and Bridgette Ortiz, was not extensive, Stockdale said. There was a man and three children home at the time the fire broke out. Stockdale said he is confident the fire is accidental but is still investigating the cause.