MECHANIC FALLS – Weeks before his death, Christopher Pullen told police he’d burn his house down. He would hurt anyone who came near.

Police closed his street one night last month, preventing neighbors from going to their homes while authorities talked with the 36-year-old Mechanic Falls man.

On Monday night, their fears were realized.

Fire destroyed the farmhouse Pullen had spent the last year repairing. Then, he began a standoff that led to his death. A few miles away, police killed him as he held two long-barreled guns.

‘Could see it coming’

“It’s frustrating because you could see it coming,” said Rob Hackett, who lived next door to Pullen for the past year and a half. Hackett had heard the threats. He’d seen the cop cars outside his neighbor’s house.

“When I heard there was a fire in my neighborhood, I knew,” Hackett said.

Police remembered the threats, too.

In the past six months, Mechanic Falls police were there about six times, said Chief Jeffrey Goss. Pullen made arson threats and at least once police were called because he was arguing with his girlfriend. Pullen was never arrested.

Police returned Monday night when a neighbor reported the fire at 67 Water St. They arrived at about 11:30 p.m., before the firefighters got there.

As the trucks neared, police kept them back for three or four minutes while they searched for Pullen, whom they feared was armed.

Assistant Fire Chief John Hawley stood on the other side of Water Street as smoke billowed and flames erupted from the 145-year-old farmhouse. No one knew yet that Pullen’s girlfriend and her children had moved out.

“It was the longest four minutes of my life,” Hawley said. “It’s a helpless feeling. You just stand there. There’s nothing you can do.”

Then, police signaled the waiting firefighters. The house was empty.

It seemed to be on fire everywhere. Inspectors would later find at least five different sources of the blaze.

Firefighters from seven towns – Minot, Poland, Oxford, Norway, Hebron, Auburn and Mechanic Falls – broke into squads, each taking a different part of the house.

A group of three men from the Mechanic Falls department were nearly injured when a backdraft blew open a door, sending flames above their heads.

Wayde Boston, who stood at the front of the line, was pushed to the ground by the sudden eruption. Flames scorched a sleeve of his coat and melted part of his helmet. He emerged unhurt, though.

Neighbors stood on lawns and watched the house burn. They returned Tuesday to the charred site and watched as Hawley and inspectors searched for clues to what happened.

“It was a gorgeous place,” said Linda Dube, who lives one door away. “(Pullen) spent a lot of time working on the house.”

Investigators said Pullen set the fire in at least five different locations throughout the house with a hand-held acetelyn torch. A Mechanic Falls police officer found the torch still glowing with flame in a barn near the house, according to State Fire Marshal’s Office investigator Dan Roy Jr.

The house was built in 1858, just before the Civil War. Pullen bought the place less than two years ago. He installed new windows and made a variety of changes, Dube said. He was cordial and offered to give her a hand on her own house.

However, he stayed apart from his neighbors, it seems. Neither Dube nor Hackett knew where he worked.

Dube stood on the lawn between their houses and held her son close.

“At least (his girlfriend) and her children weren’t there,” she said. “It’s over.”