WOOLWICH, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-- Fire officials in Woolwich are reminding Mainers to keep up on cleaning their chimneys after fire destroyed the inside of part of a home on Everett Dow Drive early Monday morning.
The early New Year's Day first alarm fire was called into the department at 2am and required help seven neighboring fire departments to put it out, according to Woolwich Fire Chief Mike Demers. When crews arrived on scene, Demers says flames could be seen shooting out of the chimney of the "L" portion of the home. Demers believes the cause of the fire involved a wood stove and chimney debris, but no official cause has yet been named.
One person was inside the home at the time made it out safely after smelling smoke and alerting the fire department, however, the interior of the two and a half story potion of the home was destroyed.
Chief Demers says the extreme cold weighed on his firefighters as they worked up until just after 5am to extinguish the flames.