SOUTH PORTLAND — A blazing ceiling collapsed on firefighters battling back a second-floor flare-up early Wednesday morning, but everyone was able to escape the ordeal alive, firefighters on scene told the Bangor Daily News.

The blaze, which decimated an apartment building at 554 Main St. and damaged the exterior of the structure next door, was reported at approximately 4:15 a.m. Wednesday.

“It really took off quickly,” South Portland Fire Chief Kevin Guimond told WCSH 6. “Within five minutes the roof was coming down on the firefighters. I had to evacuate them.”

Nearby resident Matthew Robbins told the BDN the smell of smoke woke him and his wife up at their home as far as two blocks away. Robbins, a photographer and graphic artist, went to the scene and took pictures of the fire.

“You could feel the heat coming off of the building, and of course it was melting the siding on the building next to it,” Robbins said. “It was intense. Flames were just shooting up into the sky and huge plumes of smoke were billowing out.”

Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office were on hand Wednesday morning to determine the cause of the blaze.

Traffic was blocked off for several hours in the Main Street vicinity of the incident, but has now been reopened. Approximately three residents of the apartment were reportedly unharmed in the fire.

Copy the Story Link