Peter and Georgette Kjenstee’s cat was killed in the fire; their dog is

still missing.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

LIVERMORE FALLS – A noontime inferno destroyed a mobile home in Livermore Falls on Thursday and kept more than 30 firefighters in the icy Arctic-like elements for several hours.

Owner David Brackett was under his trailer using a space heater to thaw out some frozen pipes when insulation ignited, Livermore Falls fire Lt. Jim Leclerc said. Brackett managed to escape and called the Fire Department.

The Livermore Falls Fire Department received a call around noon that flames were shooting from beneath a house trailer at 28 Gilbert St. and dispatched an engine, a squad truck and 10 firefighters to the scene, Leclerc said.

Because the blaze was called in as a structure fire, automatic mutual aid was called from Jay, which came with an engine and a six-person crew, and Livermore, arriving with an engine, a squad truck and around 10 firefighters.

Firefighters arrived to find the trailer engulfed in flames and attacked them through the front door of the 14-by-40-foot trailer.

The old wood-framed trailer with metal siding had wooden additions on each end that increased the living space. The owner had also built an A-frame style roof on top of the metal room, giving the flames a place to go out of reach of firefighters.

“We tried to knock it down and we would and then it would just pop up somewhere else,” Leclerc explained about the frustration the crew faced in attacking the fire. “It spread farther than we could keep up with.”

But finding the flames wasn’t the most belligerent opponent Leclerc said those on scene faced.

“Downright frigid temperatures,” as he explained them, caused turnout gear, equipment and air packs to freeze up, rendering them useless.

Firefighters also slipped and slid around the scene as water to extinguish the blaze caused the area around the home to become a skating rink. “It was pretty treacherous moving around out there,” Leclerc reported.

Two hours into the fight, frozen firefighters needed a break. Backup was called and a six-person team from Wilton and a four-person team from Fayette relieved those who had been working since noon.

“The worst part about this fire was the cold, that was our biggest battle,” he said. The temperature was minus 12, he said.

When firefighters cleared the scene at 4 p.m., they left behind a trailer that was considered a total loss. Only the shell was still standing, the inside of the home gutted.

Brackett did have insurance on the trailer, but the couple renting the trailer, Peter and Georgette Kjenstee did not have renter’s insurance, Leclerc said.

The American Red Cross was called in and the couple is being put up at the Colonial Valley Motel in Farmington for now.

The couple’s cat was found dead in the wreckage and their dog is still missing, Leclerc noted, suggesting the dog may have escaped but could still be underneath the damage.

No firefighters were injured but an hour after they arrived back at the station, Leclerc said they were still “thawing out” and a few may have frostbite.

An official from the state Fire Marshal’s Office was expected to survey the scene Thursday night, although the fire was not considered suspicious.

Leclerc suggested that as the deep freeze continues to grip the area, those with frozen pipes should never use space heaters or torches, and instead use a hairdryer, which doesn’t have an open flame and conduct as much heat.

“There was excellent mutual aid on this,” Leclerc said of the five-department effort. “Even when it’s this cold out, everyone knows their job and they got out there and got it done. This is when we need it the most.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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