MACHIAS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Firefighters had to deal with the bitter cold in Machias this morning.
Crews responded to a call at 6 AM for a chimney fire, but by the time they arrived, it had spread to the rest of the house.
Firefighters responded to the call coming from the homeowner at 60 Center Street.
Nobody was hurt.
Mutual aid crews from Machiasport, East Machias, Jonesboro and Marshfield also responded.
They got the fire contained after about 6 hours of work.
The structure of the home was maintained, but officials said that the damage inside – including collapsed floors – made it impossible to enter the home, and that they expected to be there until dark cleaning.
They said this was a particularly difficult fire because it was an old house with a metal roof.
Machias Assistant Fire Chief Brian Ingalls said the hardest part was “probably the cold. It was 16 below when the call came in at my house. So, that makes it really tough, because things freeze up and firefighters freeze up. It gets really bad...it was just a real tough fire to fight.”
Several firefighters were brought inside to a neighboring office to be warmed up by the paramedics after several hours in the cold.
They said that one challenge was that when they would thaw out their uniforms inside, the cold outside would freeze everything up again – which made it difficult to not have an alternate uniform to wear for the weather.
The official cause of the fire is still under investigation.