PORTLAND, Maine — Multiple agencies responded to a structure fire Tuesday at a Dover-Foxcroft apartment.
The fire department reportedly received a call about the fire around 10 a.m.
According to Tiana Guantt, who said she lived on the top floor of the building, two apartments in the building were occupied.
"I got a pound on my door, and then my smoke alarms started going off, and I sat out of bed and saw the smoke on my ceiling. I grabbed my dog and ran out the door," Gauntt said.
According to Gauntt, a person working at a home on Cherry Street saw the flames and alerted those still inside.
"If he wasn't working next door and didn't see the flame, I probably wouldn't be standing here speaking with you today," Gauntt said. "I'm just glad to have made it out, as well as everybody else in the building."
Gauntt said she was able to save her dog, but she was not able to return into the building to retrieve her cat, which died in the fire.
According to fire officials, the building was fully involved by the time crews arrived.
"When all the units started arriving, we had to go into defensive operations. It was too unsafe to send in interior crews. It was too far ahead of us," Dover-Foxcroft Fire Chief Brian Gaudet said.
Cherry Street was while crews respond, and drivers were urged to avoid the area, according to the Dover-Foxcroft Fire Department. The road has since reopened.
No cause has yet been determined, fire officials said. The Maine State Fire Marshal's Office was on scene Tuesday investigating.
Gaudet said 11 towns provided mutual aid to help control the blaze.
Crews were able to get the building under control and worked to put out hotspots until clearing the scene around 3 p.m.
Guantt's family has set up a GoFundMe to help Tiana recover after losing everything in the fire.
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