By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

AUBURN – A family of five temporarily lost their apartment Sunday afternoon after an electric fire caused as much as $25,000 in estimated damage to a 15 Willow St. building.

“It was another good stop by firefighters,” said Gary Simard, the city’s fire prevention officer and chief investigator. “Another couple of minutes, and they might have lost it,” he added.

Simard said the bulk of damage to the apartment house – which has nine units – was to one apartment’s walls and ceiling.

People living in the building had been having some electrical problems earlier in the day, Simard said, and then shortly before 4 p.m. someone called firefighters saying smoke could be smelled. Soon after, smoke was seen curling from near a roof eve.

When fire crews got to the house, which also abuts Hampshire Street, they used up some precious minutes attempting to locate the source of the flames. Once they found the fire, it was quickly brought under control and knocked down entirely in under an hour.

Auburn firefighters responded with three pumpers, the city’s tower truck and two rescue trucks. They were assisted by Lewiston firefighters, who responded with two more pumpers and a ladder truck.

An Auburn platoon chief headed up efforts by Auburn firefighters while a Lewiston fire captain took charge of that city’s fire crews.

Simard said the fire resulted in temporarily displacing about 20 people as well as the five in the family living in the apartment where the blaze erupted. He said most tenants would be able to return to their apartments Sunday night after an electrician had a chance to check the wiring and make any needed repairs.

He estimated that the most badly damaged apartment could be repaired and back in use in about a week.

No one was hurt by the fire or smoke.

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