LIVERMORE FALLS – Firefighters from Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls went to a Main Street apartment house Thursday to check a report of an odor of paper burning.

What they found was a self-cleaning oven left on in an empty apartment.

“The smoke detectors were going, and it scared us,” said Deborah Williams, a tenant on the first floor of the three-story apartment building at 121 Main St.

“It smelled like paper burning,” said Williams’ daughter-in-law, Stephanie Williams.

The odor was coming from a third-floor apartment where no one was home, Deborah Williams said.

“It appears that we have an oven left on in self-cleaning mode,” Livermore Falls Fire Chief Ken Jones said as he left the building. “The stove was pretty hot but it appears nothing burnt,” he said, add the oven was still locked.

Livermore Falls police directed traffic around the congested area near Ben’s Variety, and a NorthStar ambulance was on the scene.