Woman escapes Livermore fire through 2nd-story window

Sept. 21--LIVERMORE -- Lorraine Woodard grew up in the two-story, cape-style house with attached barn that was destroyed by fire early Wednesday at 76 Church St.

Memories keep running through her mind, she said.

A woman who was in the house when the fire broke out was injured when she got herself out of a second-floor window. She and a Livermore Falls firefighter, who suffered heat exhaustion, were taken to a hospital, Livermore Fire Chief Donald Castonguay said.

"This really hit me hard," Woodard said of the property that neighbors her own. "This has been a night. The good things keep coming back to me. So many good memories."

She sold the house in 2005, but not to its current owner.

"I moved in here when I was 2," she said.

She got married at 22 and moved back to town two years later. She owns the neighboring house where she currently lives.

Woodard and current owner John Gray of Lewiston stood outside, talking behind the yellow tape. There was no insurance on the property, Gray said. He said he has owned the house for five years and rents it out.

Light smoke drifted up from debris at the barn, the smell of burnt wood still in the air.

He was glad that everyone escaped the burning building.

"It is a huge loss to me," Gray said. "I had stuff in the barn, all kinds of appliances. Some good stuff. Not much left to salvage there, is there?"

"Oh my God -- the little place we put the milk," Woodard said. It had been damaged by fire.

The house was built in the 1800s, she said.

More than 30 firefighters from eight departments responded to a fire reported at 2:15 a.m., Castonguay said. Water was shuttled from nearby Brettuns Pond.

Three state fire investigators were still at the scene at 9 a.m. The Fire and Explosion Investigations Mobile Command Center from the Office of Maine State Fire Marshal was parked nearby.

The fire remained under investigation as of late Wednesday afternoon.

State investigators do not have a cause at this time, but it is believed the fire originated in the area of the barn, said Sgt. Ken Grimes, a state investigator.

Investigators will be conducting more interviews, he said.

He did not know the woman who was living in the rented home, he said. From what he understands, the woman was unable to make it down the stairs to exit the house because of the smoke. She got out through a second-floor window and injured her back, Grimes said.

She was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and was treated and released, he said.

Woodard said a relative that lives across the street from her was alerted to a fire after a dog at the house started barking. Another relative went to look outside and saw the barn on fire.

Castonguay said when he arrived, the barn and an ell that connected the house and barn was fully engulfed in flames. A truck parked in the driveway was also fully involved. The truck was leaking gas and flaming fuel was running across the road.

The woman who had lowered herself from the second-floor window was running down the street, he said.

"I don't know how, but she was," he said. "Adrenaline does funny things."

Castonguay called in a pulp truck from relative Jean Castonguay Logging and Excavation of Livermore Falls. Adam Castonguay moved the truck in the driveway and dug debris out of the bottom of the barn so firefighters could put out hot spots, he said.

Assisting Livermore at the fire site were fire departments from Buckfield, Canton, Leeds, Livermore Falls, Jay and Wilton.

"The way the fire departments handled this fire was really very professional, very systematic," said Tom Gill, a resident of the road. He had walked down to the fire in the early-morning hours.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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