GARDINER — Fire broke out Monday afternoon in a three-story house near the intersection of West Street and Route 126.
Fire departments from around the region responded to attack the fire at 10 West St. around 4 p.m.
Witnesses said fire and smoke were billowing out of the home’s windows, with flames shooting out the rear section that connects to a carriage house or barn.
The roof over that section of the home, and over the carriage house, had collapsed shortly before 5 p.m.
Wendy Robinson, who lives next door, said her 9-year-old son, Chance, had just left to take dinner to his grandmother when he ran back inside and said the house was on fire.
Robinson said she immediately called 911, but others had been calling the fire in as well.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was in the home when the fire broke out.
The Gardiner Fire Department used its ladder truck to pour water on the roof of the building, the extension and what was left of the barn. Smoke could be seen rolling out of the front window on the third floor, which continued to burn just past 5 p.m.
From Route 126, only the structural timbers remained.
The gray clapboard and shingled home, which appeared to date to the 1860s, was believed to have been in foreclosure and recently purchased. Robinson said the owners of the building had recently started to do a lot of work inside. And just last week they had brought in large rolls of insulation.
Smoke from the fire was rolling down Cobbossee Stream, and was also visible from the highway.
Fire departments from Gardiner, West Gardiner, Farmingdale, Togus, Randolph and Pittston responded.
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