WOOLWICH 

A man and his adult daughter were left homeless after a fire destroyed their home at 259 George Wright Road early Friday afternoon.

No one was home when the fire broke out in the house, which is owned by Aaron Jones. The house was full of fire already when firefighters went inside. Reported around 12:30 p.m., crews go the stubborn fire under control at around 3 p.m. 

Woolwich, Wiscasset, Dresden and Bath fire departments responded to the fire and a section of the George Wright Road was shut off to traffic.

Woolwich Fire Chief Geoff McCarren said when firefighters arrived, the house was smoldering and full of brown smoke. No one was home and the doors were locked, though firefighters didn’t know no one was home initially. 

“We did make entry. We went into the first room, it was hot,” so crews backed out and began attacking the fire externally, McCarren said. He estimated it took 30 to 45 minutes to get the fire under control. The home has 1-inch pine wood in the walls and ceiling and a balloon construction that made it a hard fire to chase. It took “a lot of digging” to finally get the fire out.

It was a difficult fire to fight, McCarren said. Once the fire on the first floor was out, “it was drawing up into the second floor and of course that would flash, rekindle,” and crews would go back and fight that, which happened a couple of times.

The fire was contained to the house so a car in the driveway and the adjacent garage with an in-law apartment above it were not damaged. Firefighters were expecting to began overhaul, searching for any hot spots remaining in the structure, at around 3 p.m.

It appeared that the fire started in the kitchen, the fire chief said, but said an investigator from the state fire marshal’s office will respond to help determine where and how the fire started. The house sustained heavy fire and water damage and is considered a total loss.

Jones lived at the home which was his father’s for 12 years. He helped his now late father put additions on the house he lived there most recently with his 18-year-old daughter Stephanie Jones, and a cat who was lost in the fire. He was working in Yarmouth when his tenants called to tell him about the fire. As crews cut into the front of the upper level of his house with axes, Jones broke down as he explained he doesn’t have any insurance. His furnace broke down about seven years ago and he has been using the wood stove his mother gave him to heat the house. He guesses the wood stove may have been behind the fire.

“You just don’t dare spend any money because you never know what’s going to happen,” Jones said. “I don’t have any insurance or nothing, I can’t afford it.”

He held an ash-covered bag in his arms: “I had them get my Bible.”

Jones is being assisted by The American Red Cross. Without them, “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

He added, “I will say the worries I had this morning when I left are nothing (compared) to what I have now.”