Hermon home saved in early morning fire

Posted April 28, 2009, at 11:02 p.m.

HERMON, Maine — Though an early morning electrical fire Tuesday destroyed a barn and heavily damaged an attached ell, firefighters from Hermon and several outlying communities were able to stop it before it could seriously damage the main house.

“It was a tremendous save,” Hermon Fire Chief Larry Willis said Tuesday, crediting quick response on the part of fire crews from Hermon, Carmel, Glenburn, Hampden, Levant and the Maine Air Guard Fire base in Bangor.

Willis said that firefighters from Etna and Stetson were on standby for the other departments while the fire was being fought.

An investigator from the State Fire Marshal’s Office who visited the fire scene has determined that the fire was accidental and was the result of an electrical malfunction, Willis said.

According to Willis, the fire at 734 Bog Road was reported about 5:30 a.m. by homeowner Darlene Lowell, as well as by a neighbor and several passers-by.

Lowell and a friend who was staying there escaped safely, as did two pet dogs and at least three pet cats, Willis said

During the fire, at least two small propane tanks stored in the barn exploded. Despite that, neither the people who lived there nor firefighters were injured.

Though Lowell’s house had some fire damage along the wall adjacent to the ell, it will be habitable again after undergoing some repair, Willis said.

The Best Western White House Inn in Hermon has offered to put Lowell and her friend up for the next few days at no cost, as it has done for other local families affected by fires.

“It’s much appreciated,” Willis said.