A lit cigarette fueled by an oxygen tank was the lethal combination that claimed the life of an elderly Gorham woman in an early morning fire Tuesday in her mobile home at 81 Evergreen Drive in Gorham.
Elinor Downes, 78, died after the cigarette she was smoking ignited her clothing, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
“She was a very good person, a lovely lady,” said Marie Bernard, a neighbor who often visited Downs. “We were good friends.”
Downes was tethered to an oxygen tank, according to Maine Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland, which intensified the fire. Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard said. “It’s pretty evident what happened.”
Shepard said there was no explosion.
Firefighters, who arrived at the scene shortly after 7 a.m., had the fire extinguished in less than 10 minutes, said Gorham Fire Chief Bob Lefebvre. He said firefighters fought the blaze with water supplied by tank firetrucks, including one from Buxton.
Scarborough firefighters also assisted at the scene and Westbrook firefighters manned Gorham fire stations.
Downes lived alone in a manufactured home at the corner of Evergreen and Ash drives in Friendly Village, a Gorham trailer park off Hodgdon Road. The fire involved the living room and extended into a hallway and one other room, said Lefebvre, who added the investigation of the fire concluded Tuesday.
After entering the mobile home, firefighters discovered Downes’ body.
A spokeswoman for the state’s medical examiner’s office said a person from the office examined Downes’ body in Gorham Tuesday. She said the examination is “protocol” in that type of incident.
John Richard, property manager for Friendly Village, said Tuesday Downes had been a resident at the park for 12 years. Richard said she had been sick, and had gone to the hospital Monday morning, but returned in the afternoon.
Lefebvre said a Gorham Rescue Department ambulance had taken Downes Monday to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Richard said Downes’ “love was her dog,” a German shepherd.
Lefebvre said the dog was either with a family member or another resident at the park. Bernard said the dog’s name is Jasmin.
Downes’ mobile home has gray vinyl siding and red shutters and a deck. Richard said Downes owned the home but leased the lot. “She was a good resident,” he said.
Lefebvre estimated damage to the home at about $20,000. Gorham tax records valued the home, which Downes bought April 8, 1995, at $51,800.
Richard said a woman at the park reported the fire after seeing what she thought was steam coming from the home. “But it was smoke coming out of the eaves,” Richard said.
The state received the emergency call from Gorham at 7:09 a.m. Tuesday, Lefebvre said, and Cumberland County Dispatch Center in Windham received the relay in less than one minute.
Lefebvre said emergency calls in Gorham and other communities covered by Cumberland County Dispatch Center have been routed in an “on and off again” situation to state police dispatch since mid-April. Lefebvre said the county and telephone provider Fairpoint are working together in an ongoing investigation in an effort to solve the problem.
Lefebvre, a member of the board of directors for Cumberland County Dispatch Center, said no one has been left without the emergency 911 service, but calls are going to the state initially.
“There’s one extra step in the process,” Lefebvre said.
Cutline – (fire 2 or 3) – Gorham Deputy Fire Chief Ken Fickett, right, talks with an unidentified firefighter while two others, foreground, look on Tuesday morning in front of a home in Friendly Village where a fire claimed the life of an elderly woman. 
Cutline -(fire 4) – Gorham Police Lt. Chris Sanborn, left, and Sgt. Bob Mailman talk with a neighbor of an elderly woman who died Tuesday in a fire in her Friendly Village home in Gorham.
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