By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

MEXICO – Unattended candles caused Wednesday night’s blaze at a Main Street duplex that displaced seven people in two families, a state fire marshal’s investigator said Thursday.

Nobody was hurt in the 7:10 p.m. blaze that began on the third floor at 227 Main St., said Fire Chief Gary Wentzell on Thursday morning. Two dogs and a cat were rescued.

Investigator Chris Stanford of the State Fire Marshal’s Office estimated damage Thursday morning at $100,000 to the duplex, one of four such buildings in a row that date back to the early 1900s.

Fire investigator Dan Roy said Thursday that he believed the building, which is owned by Harry McKenna, was insured.

McKenna declined to comment on the insurance aspect Thursday morning at the site. But he said he was “grateful for the firemen, and that nobody got hurt.”

After a continued investigation Thursday, Stanford determined that the fire’s origin was accidental.

“Its cause was unattended candles,” he said.

The fire was spotted by some youths, friends of children of one of the families who lived in the build, Stanford said.

“There were some juveniles walking by, and they saw smoke showing and went into the house to try and extinguish the fire,” Stanford said.

Unable to do that, they rescued a dog and cat in the 227 Main St. apartment, he said.

After arriving, Wentzell said he heard barking from a second dog, a black Labrador retriever, inside the duplex’s adjacent 229 Main St. apartment. Firefighters rescued that dog.

“When I pulled up, shingles were melting down onto the street,” he said. Safely getting to the fire presented a problem, because the roof is oddly shaped and because it sagged when firefighters walked on it, said firefighter Donald Hodsdon.

Mexico positioned its aerial ladder truck in front of the building; Rumford, which responded automatically with mutual aid, set up its aerial truck in the backyard.

“Having the two aerials prevented firefighters from using ladders, which would have been a safety issue, because the roof was pretty weak,” Hodsdon said.

Wentzell said the fire started on the floor of the third story at the front of the building.

“The fire caught a stuffed chair on fire, traveled up its back on the wall and got up into the roof,” he said while pointing out the burn path in the debris-strewn room.

Wentzell said the fire was knocked down quickly by about 40 firefighters from the two departments, but crews stayed at scene until 1:30 a.m. Thursday, mopping up hot spots.

Some rooms showed very little damage, while others sustained heavy fire and water damage.

Wentzell, Hodsdon and firetruck driver Jack Arsenault were called back to the scene at 9:15 a.m. Thursday after smoke was seen coming from a gaping hole in the roof. Sections of the second-floor ceiling and charred third-story floor inside the 227 Main St. apartment were ripped down to get at smoldering insulation.

Douglas Hoyt, executive director of the United Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross in Auburn, said the organization took care of one family Wednesday night, giving it food, groceries, lodging and clothing. The second family received the same help when it was located Thursday morning, he added.

Mexico Assessor Rob Stevens said Thursday that the building was estimated to have been built in 1900.

“At one time, there was a whole set of duplexes there that were known as the Goodwin Cottages,” Stevens said.

“They were built about the time the mill was started, and may have housed its managers. Both Rumford and Mexico historical societies have pictures showing guys laying the foundation for the mill with these houses in the background,” he said.