An apartment building at 467 Main St. in Norway burns early Monday morning. A man has been arrested in connection with the fire. Residents escaped the fire safely, according to Norway Assistant Fire Chief Jim Tibbetts.
NORWAY — A man was charged with arson Monday morning in a fire that ripped through a Main Street boarding house.
Todd Fickett, 19, lived in the front of the building on the first floor. According to the Maine Department of Public Safety, he was taken into custody at the Norway Fire Station by Fire Marshal investigators at about 5 a.m.
Fickett is being held at the Oxford County Jail, according to a release from the Maine Department of Public Safety. He initially told investigators he was Travis Fickett, his older brother, and investigators waited to release his name until they were sure of his identity.
According to Norway Assistant Chief Jim Tibbetts, none of the building's 14 residents are hurt.
The call came in at 1:41 a.m. Tibbetts said it was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived. The building was destroyed and Ari's Pizza and Subs sustained minor damage to the top floor, but firefighters stopped the flames from spreading there.
Tibbetts said there was some water damage in the restaurant.
Two firefighters were injured at the scene, he said. One suffered exhaustion and the other was hit in the head. Both were transported to Stephens Memorial Hospital.
According to Tibbetts, Norway firefighters were assisted by departments from Paris, Oxford, Waterford, West Paris, Poland, Harrison and Mechanic Falls.
The fire is extinguished and is being investigated. It has been ruled as an arson.
treaves@sunjournal.com
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No excuse for exhaustion? Try
No excuse for exhaustion? Try battling 2000 degree flames and manning water hoses for more than 2 hours. It's a stressful and dangerous profession, and anyone who is a firefighter deserves all the respect they get.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.We all know you're not
We all know you're not standing right in the middle of 2000 degree flames (not even sure it's even 2000 degrees) for 2 hrs straight. You're outside the building holding a hose. I don't respect many firefighters. Anyone can be one
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.You have to be in terrible
You have to be in terrible shape to be injured from 'exhaustion' and transferred to a hospital. Fitness should be part of the fire department, volunteer or not, can't have people lacking strength and cardio endurance.
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