The area around an unoccupied campsite was charred by a fire on Sunday.
Photo: Lee Burnett
Firefighters extinguished a brush fire Sunday that spread from a tent site behind an industrial park in South Sanford.
ATV riders in the area called the Fire Department about 2:55 p.m. and by the time Assistant Chief Brian Watkins arrived there was “a considerable amount of smoke” not far from the end of Cyro Drive, Watkins said.
Eventually, six trucks from Sanford and others from Wells and Alfred arrived. The fire was confined to the grass and underbrush but extinguishing it was difficult because the woods were thick, he said. The charred area surrounded a single tent and campsite whose occupant had left before fire crews arrived, he said.
“Conditions are so dry that if the campfire wasn’t completely out, it could have easily spread,” Watkins said.
This was the second uncontrolled fire at a homeless encampment in recent weeks. A fire Aug. 12 destroyed a camper off Gerrish Drive, where an encampment was established. On three other recent occasions, fire crews have ordered the extinguishing of campfires in woods near the Sanford Seacoast Airport, Heritage Crossing and Oscar Emery Drive.
The Maine Forest Service has no leads on who started the fire. Conditions for wildfire could worsen despite Thursday’s rain, according to Forest Fire Prevention Specialist Terri Teller. York County remains in “severe drought” as of Thursday, according to US Drought Monitor. With vegetation losing moisture and leaves falling, there’s more tinder on the ground at a time when woods themselves provide less resistance to winds when they pick up, Teller said.
York County was listed in “moderate danger” of wildfire Thursday morning but fire danger changes on a daily basis, depending on rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, she said. There’s no rain in the forecast for the next week.
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