SANDY RIVER PLANTATION – The Rangeley Fire Department responded to its first structure fire of the year just before daybreak on Saturday.

Rangeley Fire Chief Rudy Davis said the department got a report just before 5 a.m. of a fire at the home of Eric Welch on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation.

Within 10 minutes, a crew including 13 firefighters, three engines and a tanker truck arrived on scene.

Davis said at the time the fire broke out, Welch was awake and had the wood stove going. The fire is believed to have started in the chimney and by the time the department showed up, it was burning up the side of the two-story wooden house, he said.

A light snowfall and temperatures in the mid-20s made it easy for firefighters to work.

The flames were quickly contained and only caused damage to one end of the house.

The boards were burned through on that end, and parts of the inside of the home were exposed, Davis explained.

Both Welch and a female companion got out of the house without injury, Davis said.

The scene was cleared around 7 a.m. The home is still livable.

Davis said it was lucky the fire was called in when it was, and that the department got there fast.

“Within a few more minutes, it would have been a major structure fire,” he said.

“But, there was a good response and everyone worked well together.”

The cause of the blaze was self-evident, Davis added, and said the Fire Marshal’s Office would not be called in.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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