The Bolles family arrived home after a trip to Portland to find their home and garage destroyed.
By Lisa Chmelecki
Staff Writer

AUBURN – The cause of a fire that leveled a home on Summer Street Wednesday night remains unknown.

Fire inspectors dug through the piles of charred rubble until dusk Thursday evening. Due to the extensive damage caused by the fast-moving blaze, they were unable to identify the origin of the fire.

Dan Roy Jr., an inspector for the State Fire Marshal’s Office, said the investigation would continue Friday morning.

When asked if there was any reason to believe that the cause of the fire was suspicious, Roy said, “I can’t say either way. It’s going to be hard. There’s a lot of damage.”

Built in 1800, the house at 949 Summer St. was sold a year and a half ago to Richard and Marta Bolles of New Jersey. They were in Portland with their two children when the fire broke out. Fire inspectors estimated the fire started at about 5:50 p.m., about an hour and a half after the family left.

A person driving down Summer Street saw the flames and called 911.

Flames were shooting from the roof when firefighters arrived. The blaze got so bad, so quickly that firefighters were ordered to get out of the house and return to their trucks until a hose was connected to a fire hydrant about a mile away.

Battling strong winds and heavy rain, firefighters were able to keep the flames from spreading beyond the property. But they weren’t able to save the Bolles’ house or garage.

The family arrived home in their van at about 8 p.m. to find firetrucks lined up along the street, Roy said.

At that point, everything was completely destroyed, and firefighters were still scurrying to put out burning pieces of wood.

A Salvation Army relief crew that went to the scene to provide food and warm drinks to the firefighters greeted the family and made arrangements for them to stay at the Chalet Motel in Lewiston.

According to Roy, Marta Bolles is pregnant with her third child.

The couple also has two mastiffs. The dogs escaped the fire and roamed the woods next to the property before returning to the scene unharmed.

By Thursday morning, the frame of the three-bay garage and the brick chimney were all that remained standing.

Charred computer parts and appliances were scattered among the rubble. Part of the roof was toppled over with a strand of Christmas lights dangling from it.

“They just started putting up their Christmas decorations on Sunday,” Roy said.

The New Jersey couple bought the house in the spring of 2002 from local chiropractor Michael Cyr. The entire property is valued at more than $250,000, according to city records.

The property was being guarded Thursday night by an Auburn police officer.

“We’re going to hold the scene one more night,” Roy said. “We’ll return in the morning with heavy equipment and continue digging. We still have a lot of the scene to process.”

lchmelecki@sunjournal.com

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