Fire destroys two-story house in Garland

GARLAND – A two-story house in Garland was left destroyed after a fire ripped through the wooden structure Thursday night.

Garland Fire Department members who were at home received a pager alert at 10 p.m. Thursday after a passerby reported the fire on Dexter Road, Garland Fire Chief Justin Gudroe said Friday. Firefighters arrived at the house around 10:06 p.m. 

No injuries were reported, and the fire was likely too severe for the Maine State Fire Marshal to determine a cause, Gudroe said.

House fires in the town and surrounding area aren’t usually this extreme, where the structure is left no longer standing, the fire chief said. He suspects because the fire began in the evening hours and the house was located in a rural area, it was burning for a while before someone noticed. If the fire had unfolded in daylight, there would be much less damage, Gudroe said.

“When my first truck arrived on the scene, it [the structure] was fully involved with a full roof collapse. … There was nothing to save,” he said.

Firefighters performed a “surround and drown,” where they used tanker trucks to shuttle water from the Garland Pond to the structure, Gudroe said. Crews from mutual aid fire departments in Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Corinth and Corinna aided in extinguishing the fire.

A man who lived at the house was in Newport with his girlfriend when the fire erupted. He had not been home for several days, Gudroe said. Now police tape surrounds the driveway on the property. 

Gudroe sent mutual aid departments home around 11:30 p.m. The Garland Fire Department remained at the property until 1 a.m. with members of the State Fire Marshal.

“I don’t believe they are able to fully do an investigation to determine how it started due to the extensive damage to the house,” Gudroe said.