One person was reportedly hospitalized in a three-alarm fire at 114 County Road (Route 22) in Gorham at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
A Cumberland County dispatcher didn’t know if it was a firefighter who was taken to Maine Medical Center.
Firefighters from several communities battled the blaze at the historic, wooden farmhouse, estimated to be about 200 years old. The ell appeared to be extensively damaged.
A passerby, Mark Laigle of Limington, said flames were 100 feet in the air. Laigle, a volunteer firefighter in Limington, saw the blaze while en route to the Maine Mall.
“I thought the whole place was going to go,” Laigle said.
“There were several loud explosions,” Laigle said adding that debris was flying.
Laigle said there was heavy smoke coming out of the house.
“They put a crew in the main house and pushed the fire out,” said Laigle, calling the firefighters effort a “textbook” attack.
Two Gorham Middle School students who live nearby, Danielle Roy, an eighth-grader, and Breanna Hoyt, a seventh-grader, watched from across the street.
“I saw black smoke,” Hoyt said, when she first saw the fire.
Roy said when she arrived the “back of the house was burned off.” Roy said she knew the family who lived there.
“I was shocked,” Roy said.
“They’re trying to save the house,” Hoyt said, as firefighters battled the fire in a mutual effort.
The two students said the family at the residence had two dogs, a Dalmatian and a Lab. But, they didn’t know if the dogs made it out alive.
Laigle said he saw a firefighter carry one dog from the house.
Besides Gorham, firefighters from Buxton, Hollis, Scarborough, Saco, Standish and Westbrook fought the blaze. Capt. Gene Dunn of Westbrook said the closest hydrant was about three quarters of a mile away at Hansen’s Farm Market.
Dunn said firefighters unrolled between 3,000-5,000 feet of 4-inch hose. Westbrook Deputy Chief Thad Soltys, who said the fire marshal was at the scene, said tankers from Gorham, Saco, Hollis and Buxton were also hauling water.
Joanne Reardon of Standish grew up in the house, where her father, Don Sanborn, owned a dairy farm. She said the home was built by a Capt. Curtis as a gift for his bride. The home most likely predates 1800.
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