OXFORD – Heavy smoke from a first-floor apartment cooking fire sent dozens of senior citizens fleeing from the three-story Oxford Meadows complex on Main Street, Monday evening.

Firefighters from Oxford and a ladder truck from Paris were called to the senior citizen apartment complex at 1633 Main St., next to the Hannaford supermarket plaza, about 5:30 p.m. when a resident left a piece of meat cooking on the stove while she took her dog outside for a walk.

Fire Lt. Steven Cordwell said the woman suddenly realized what she had done and ran back to the apartment with a friend, but when they opened the door the smoke was too thick and they were forced outside.

Residents in the complex and visitors said they began pounding on doors trying to get people out of the building. Within moments, firefighters were on the scene supervising the evacuation.

“There was no smoke when I first got there but maybe 10 minutes later the air was thick with smoke,” said Laura Welsh of Poland, who was visiting her grandmother Shirley Welsh. Laura Welsh said she got her grandmother and tried to alert people as they went out.

Because of the age of residents, firefighters called for several PACE ambulances to make sure residents – some in wheelchairs and some on oxygen – were as comfortable as possible as they waited outside in the warm, sunny early evening.

Cordwell said firefighters determined quickly there were no flames, but they used a thermal imaging device to make sure there were no hot spots in the walls. Cordwell said he believes the hallway smoke alarms were sounding, but the system will be checked to make sure.

“I heard the smoke alarm when we came out,” said a shirtless Frank Pierce as he tried to hold onto his one-year-old cat “Boo” while a friend held his three-month-old dachshund “Zeke.”

Like Pierce, many residents said they either heard the alarm from the apartment that had the smoke or heard the alarm in the hallway as they left.

Firefighters were on the scene till close to 7 p.m., shortly before residents were allowed back into their apartments. Several large fans were set up in the most affected apartment to let the smoke out the windows and bring in fresh air. Cordwell said there was no damage to the apartment but it would take a while to get the smoke smell out.

The complex, which is owned by Bob Behr, who was not available for comment Monday night, has two floors of apartments and a ground floor which is used for general purpose rooms. Firefighters said there may be as many as 20 apartments on the two top floors.