A chimney fire spread quickly Thursday night into the walls of a farmhouse at 34 Hancock Pond Road in New Portland, destroying it and an attached barn.
The minus 10-degree temperatures and a long-distance water shuttle hindered firefighting, fire Chief Kip Poulin said.
The fire started near a woodstove in the breezeway and was reported just before 9:30 p.m., Assistant Fire Chief Brian Rundlett said.
The 1 1/2 story house is owned by Luke Sleeper who lives there with his son, Poulin said.
Occupants escaped but lost everything, Rundlett said.
“No one was injured,” he said.
Rundlett, who was first on scene, said the barn was in flames when he arrived and had spread well into the house. By the time firefighters arrived both buildings were engulfed.
“We had to get water from a hydrant in Kingfield,” Rundlett said, which is a 14-mile round trip.
More than 25 firefighters from nine towns responded, many of them helping with the water shuttle, Poulin said.
Some of their gear was coated in ice making it heavier, and ice on the ground made it slippery to walk, Rundlett said.
“Basically they are like ‘walking icicles,'” he said. They have less mobility, plus the main road was all ice.
They also had to keep the water flowing so the trucks didn’t freeze up, he said, adding that several did.
Firefighters faced challenges of not having enough water because the nearest fire departments were in Kingfield and Anson and the shuttle took a long time.
Some water lines in firetrucks froze because of the travel distance, Poulin said. Ball valve controls on the trucks froze and one split on a New Portland firetruck. In addition, some trucks froze waiting to dump water but were able to get it flowing.
“We had to bring in an excavator from Fenwick Construction (of Freeman Township) to tear the building apart to get at the fire because the roof collapsed,” Rundlett said.
Fire departments assisting New Portland were Kingfield, Anson, New Vineyard, Madison, Solon, Phillips, Strong and Carrabassett Valley. MaineHealth EMS ambulance personnel also responded.
