BRUNSWICK

A man has been airlifted from Brunswick to Maine Medical Center in Portland after receiving serious burns.

Firefighters responded to 2 Willow Grove Road in Brunswick shortly before 1 p.m. Friday. They had received a report of an unknown type of fire and a request for an ambulance through a Lifeline medical alert service.

According to Brunswick Fire Chief Ken Brillant, firefighters arrived at the residence to find a wheelchair-bound man and his mechanical wheelchair on fire.

“We were able to pull him out of the building with help of the firefighters and a police officer that was on scene at the time,” Brillant said. 

The flames were quickly extinguished, but the man suffered burns to the lower part of his body.

The man, 62-year-old Tom Soucy, was alert when firefighters arrived. He was alone in the home. 

Brunswick Police Cmdr. Mark Waltz said the cause of the fire is accidental. Soucy caught his clothes on fire while putting wood in his fireplace insert.

Temperatures were freezing Friday and it was only 5 degrees out when crews were called to the fire.

Brunswick Rescue transported the man to the St. Charles Borromeo Church parking lot just down the road off McKeen Street. A LifeFlight helicopter landed and crews loaded Soucy and lifted off at around 1:50 p.m. bound for Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Brillant said the fire was contained to the living room. There was a fire in the fireplace and a pile of wood was on fire as well. 

Police and firefighters are investigating in conjunction with the state fire marshal’s office.