Building owner Maurice Herring confers with Assistant Fire Chief Brian Watkins in the aftermath of a fire in Springvale.
Photo: Lee Burnett
By Lee Burnett
An electrical malfunction in the attic started a fire that forced a family of four to evacuate their home at 408 Main Street, Springvale Monday, according to Sanford Fire Department.
No one was hurt, though two family members needed help getting down the stairs, according to Assistant Fire Chief Brian Watkins. One woman in a wheelchair was carried down the stairs, he said. The local chapter of the American Red Cross is assisting the family with temporary housing.
The fire left the house with smoke and water damage and holes in the roof, according to Watkins.
“It’s salvageable, but uninhabitable for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Building owner Maurice Herring said he was alerted to something wrong when the lights in the house went out about 8:30 a.m. He assumed a circuit had tripped, as had happened three weeks prior, and checked the fuse panel. He tried trouble-shooting the problem with a circuit tester. Later, he noticed a strong smoke smell in an upstairs bedroom and then a brown spot above a doorway. It felt warm.
He called the fire department and while he talked, a burning ember “hit the carpet and caught it on fire.”
He said he quickly doused the fire by throwing a cup of water on it.
The fire department received a call at 2:30 p.m. and trucks from Sanford, Alfred, Acton, Wells and North Berwick responded. Ladder trucks were used to cut holes in the roof to vent the fire, he said.
Occupants of the home were Herring, his son Chris Herring, and Sherry and Doris Spivey.
The Maine State Fire Marshal’s office traced the cause of the fire to an electrical malfunction in an attic junction box, Watkins said.
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