By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

ROXBURY – A 10-year-old girl was reported in critical condition Monday with burns from a morning fire at her father’s Roxbury Pond camp.

Her father, Tom Brackett of Brownfield, was also reported burned in the 6:15 a.m. blaze off Byron Road, Mexico Fire Chief Gary Wentzell said Monday afternoon.

Brackett’s 13-year-old son, who was also in the camp when the fire started, was reportedly not injured, he added.

“I was told that the father got his daughter out of the house first through the front door, then went back in to get his son, and they exited through a rear window,” Wentzell said.

The chief said Brackett and his daughter, whose name Wentzell said he didn’t know, were taken by private vehicle to Rumford Hospital.

Wentzell said he was told the girl had burns over 51 percent of her body.

Med-Care Ambulance, he said, took the pair from Rumford to Turner, where they were met by medical helicopter and taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

“I was told that the daughter then went to the Boston Shriners Hospital; her father went to Massachusetts General Hospital, I think,” Wentzell said.

By 3:15 p.m. under a steady rain, State Fire Marshal’s Office field supervisor Ken Grimes, fire investigator Chris Stanford, senior investigators Chris York and Rick Shepard were examining the kitchen area and wood stove. Shepard brought his dog trained to detect ignitable liquids.

At 5:30 p.m., Stanford said the investigation is continuing.

“We have to do interviews with the owner, and, hopefully, the little girl,” he said.

“The fire’s origin was in the kitchen area, but the cause is still undetermined,” Stanford added.

Earlier, Wentzell said Brackett may have been using an accelerant to start a fire in the wood stove when the camp caught fire, or, the fire’s origin could have been electrical.

Wentzell and Mexico Deputy Chief Richard Jones and junior firefighter Mike Arsenault arrived within three minutes of a 911 call from Brackett’s neighbor. The trio was staying nearby at Jim Theriault’s Silver Lake Campground. Roxbury Pond is also known as Silver Lake.

“The power lines had burned off the house and were crackling on the ground, and there was fire coming out of them. The camp was a ball of fire, and all we had were our turnout gear and a 5-pound fire extinguisher,” Wentzell said.

Firetrucks and firefighters from Mexico arrived first. The scene was 14 miles from Mexico, six miles from Andover. Byron also sent firefighters and a pumper/tanker to shuttle water.

Andover Fire Chief Ken Dixon said there was about a 30-minute delay before Andover was sent to the fire.

“Andover is supposed to be toned out first, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get called right away,” Dixon said Monday afternoon.

Although the fire was in Roxbury, Wentzell said that no Roxbury firefighters or firetrucks showed up.

“The building was almost falling in by the time water got here. It took 15 minutes for the first truck to arrive,” Wentzell said.

Water was shuttled to the camp from the lake’s causeway by Andover and Byron.

Wentzell estimated the loss at $25,000, saying that Brackett had purchased the camp in February for that price.

It was not known if the camp was insured. There were no smoke detectors inside, Wentzell said.

“They had only been staying here for a couple of days,” he said.

Ironically, the fire happened the day before a special Board of Selectmen’s meeting was to be held to discuss what to do about fire department coverage in Roxbury.

That meeting convenes today at 6 p.m. at Calvin P. Lyons Town Hall in Mexico, with Andover, Byron, Roxbury and Mexico selectmen are scheduled to attend.