Firefighters struggled with heavy snow and freezing temperatures Monday night while battling a fire that destroyed a home on Route 17 in Jefferson.
Jefferson Fire Chief Walter Morris said nobody was hurt in the blaze, which was reported shortly before 10 p.m. at a home being renovated at 313 Route 17, which also is known as Rockland Road.
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“It was extremely difficult conditions for firefighters,” Morris said. “It was definitely challenging weather conditions.”
A section of Rockland Road was closed for several hours.
Nobody was living in the two-story, single-family home, which was owned and being renovated by Jeremy Tillson. Morris said the home was insured.
“It was completely destroyed,” he said.
The fire had engulfed the building by the time firefighters arrived.
“There was fire through the roof and showing out pretty much every window and every door,” Morris said.
The home was several hundred feet off the road. The driveway had not been plowed.
“Fortunately, one of my firefighters had a pickup with a plow,” Morris said. “He was able to cut a path for us.”
Snow that dropped nearly a foot of snow throughout the day Monday continued to fall as crews battled the blaze. Temperatures that hovered near zero were exacerbated by a strong, gusty wind. Morris said firefighters struggled to drag lines over snowbanks and through waist-deep snow. Firefighters from several communities, including Newcastle, Nobleboro, Pittston, Somerville, Washington, Whitefield and Windsor, as well as Waldoboro firefighters and emergency medical services, helped Jefferson crews battle the blaze.
“It was a hard effort by the folks, but they did a phenomenal job,” Morris said. “We rotated the crews through and sent them to get warmed up and refreshed.”
Tankers shuttled water from a dry hydrant a couple of miles away in Coopers Mills. Morris said frozen hoses were a problem, but they never ran out of water.
“It worked very well,” he said.
Morris is unsure where in the house, or how, the fire started. Tillson was using electric and propane heaters to keep the pipes from freezing, Morris said. The chief called investigators from the Office of the State Fire Marshal to try to determine how the fire started, but he acknowledged that will be a challenge.
“I don’t know (whether) they’ll be able to determine anything at this point because of the damage,” he said.
Many of the firefighters who responded to Monday’s fire have fought two other large fires over the past eight days, including one during the Jan. 27 blizzard in Whitefield, which displaced a family of 10. Firefighters on Sunday battled a Somerville fire that left a family of three homeless.
Tillson was nearly done renovating the home destroyed by Monday’s fire, Morris said.
“It was essentially done,” Morris said. “He hoped to move in this week.”
Craig Crosby — 621-5642
Twitter: @CraigCrosby4
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