Charles Hale, the maintenance man for the three-story apartment house at 75 Howard St., surveys the damage to the exterior of the building Friday afternoon in downtown Lewiston. The window in front of him is in the room where the fire started when a candle fell into a pile of clothes. The owner of the building was securing it to prevent people from getting inside. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
LEWISTON — Tenants from 75 Howard St. were seeking other living arrangements Friday after a fire badly damaged the apartment house Thursday night.
Fire officials said a candle that tumbled off a chest-style freezer and into a pile of clothes caused the blaze. Damage was estimated at $100,000 and the building was deemed uninhabitable.
On Friday afternoon, the property owner, Yassin Moussa, of Lewiston was working to have the apartment house secured after some tenants showed up hoping to retrieve their property. Fire officials said 21 people lived inside three apartments in the building, with 11 tenants on the second floor and five each on the first and third floors.
A fire investigator said the building remains dangerous, with strewn debris, broken glass and exposed nails throughout the apartments.
Nobody was hurt in the blaze and no pets were lost, though fire investigators said fire, smoke and water damage was substantial to the apartments and contents.
The apartment house is between Walnut and Pine streets. It was built in 1929 and sold in September 2020.The owner is listed as Moussa Realty of Lewiston in city records.
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