A firefighter cools hot spots Monday while working the scene of fire that burned three-quarters of an acre of woods near a home along state Route 139 in Fairfield. Several area agencies responded to the woods fire. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel Buy this Photo

FAIRFIELD — The remains of an earlier campfire ignited a forest fire Monday afternoon near a home on state Route 139 in Fairfield. 

Greg Cushing said he had a small campfire behind his house Monday morning. He had difficulty getting the fire to start at all, and put it out after a while. He had a hose near the spot and after it rained around an hour in the afternoon, he went inside to get some work done.  

Cushing said he had cut down a number of trees last year to clear some area on the property. Later in the afternoon it seems that remaining embers from the fire were blown by the wind and ignited the felled trees, he said.

“It must have been out for a long time, and I guess some of the embers off one of the small bushes started off the giant set of logs that had fallen down,” Cushing said. 

A passerby noticed the fire and called 911 around 3:45 p.m., according to Fairfield fire Chief Duane Bickford. The Fairfield fire department responded, along with crews from Norridgewock and Oakland, and there was manpower from Waterville, Bickford said.  

Firefighters were able to contain the fire in the woods, but remained on the scene until around 5:30 p.m., to ensure that there were no more flare-ups. There were no injuries and no structural damage from the fire, although about three-quarters of an acre burned from the blaze, officials said. 

“At this point everything they did, they saved the day,” Cushing said of the firefighters. 

Because of the location, firefighters had to bring in water from tankers, which was part of the motivation for multiple departments responding.  

Fairfield is not currently giving out fire permits because it is too dry and too windy, Bickford said.