Maine Firefighters Save Church from Nearby Barn Fire

BINGHAM, Maine – A Meadow Street barn fire Sunday afternoon quickly spread to an attached farmhouse, but flames were stopped by the first group of firefighters to arrive before they reached a nearby church, Bingham Fire Chief Scott Laweryson said Monday.

“The initial guys did a great job,” Laweryson said.

The First Congregational Church is located “about 8 feet” from where the barn was burning, and the wind was whipping up the flames, the chief said.

“It did melt the vinyl siding, but it’s intact,” Laweryson said of the church.

The fire broke out at around 4:30 p.m. and investigators from the state fire marshal’s office responded to the blaze on Sunday and returned Monday to survey the damage and look for a cause.

“Something inside the barn was the source of the ignition,” Laweryson said. “It started in the barn and spread to the house. The house and the barn are still standing, but there is a lot of fire damage and a lot of smoke damage.”

The dozen local firefighters were assisted by seven or eight others from Solon Fire Department.

“There were no injuries to humans but they did lose two dogs,” the fire chief said of the homeowners, who purchased the house several months ago and were not at home when the blaze broke out.

“It was a three-story older home,” Laweryson said. “It was a really nice house.”