BIDDEFORD — On Thursday, the day after her daughter turned herself in for allegedly starting the Nov. 9 fire at 22 Cutts St. that left 13 people homeless, Elizabeth Howe spoke up.
“It’s a tragedy for all involved, including myself, said Howe. Like the other tenants, said Howe, she also lost all of her possessions.
When the fire occurred, Nicole Howe, 28, had been living with her mother on the first floor of the 10-unit building on Cutts Street.
The fire was caused by setting fire to newspapers in a baby carriage on the porch outside the first floor apartment where the mother and daughter lived, said Maine State Fire Marshal Investigator Sgt. Joel Davis.
Nicole Howe turned herself in at the Biddeford Police Department on Wednesday afternoon.
She will be arraigned today via video at Biddeford District Court.
“I love my daughter and I’ll stand behind her,” said Elizabeth Howe, outside her room at the Biddeford Motel on Route 1, where she has been staying since the fire. Her daughter had been staying at the motel with her until she turned herself in.
“I do feel bad,” said Elizabeth Howe. “They (the other tenants) were my friends.
“All I can do is apologize.”
Elizabeth Howe said she spoke to her daughter on Thursday via telephone. Nicole Howe was being held at the York County Jail in Alfred, on $25,000 bail.
“She’s emotionally a wreck,” said Elizabeth Howe, about her daughter. Her daughter was crying during their conversation, she said.
One good outcome, said Elizabeth Howe, is that one of her cats, Nahni, was found alive.
More donations for fire victims are still needed, said Laura Kimball, who is working out of the Seeds of Hope Neighborhood Center in Biddeford. Kimball is helping to coordinate efforts to assist the victims.
Other community agencies, such as the Biddeford and Saco Rotary Club and the Saco Bay Rotary Club, the Stone Soup Food Pantry are also assisting the victims.
Household goods like towels, dishes, pots and pans and silverware as well as trucks to pick up donated items are needed, said Kimball.
In addition, she said, she is looking for permanent housing for some of the victims.
To make donations or find out how to help the fire victims call Laura Kimball at 284-3198 or; contact Leo Menard, with the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club, by e-mail at lmenard@maine.rr.com or by phone at 229-7525 or; call Stone Soup Food Pantry at 283-0055.
— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
