Tenants displaced by fire in Wells apartment building

Nov. 18—WELLS — More than 100 firefighters battled an apartment fire Monday night that displaced tenants but left no one injured, officials said.

Dozens of engines from Wells and surrounding fire departments filled the road as crews worked to extinguish the blaze at Pine Tree Commons, overcoming an inadequate water supply with a line of tanker trucks dispatched to the apartment complex at 2124 Sanford Road.

Chief Mark Dupuis of the Wells Fire Department said crews arrived shortly after 5 p.m. to see one side of the main structure on fire. He said there were no reported injuries among residents or emergency crews.

"Everybody got out," Dupuis told reporters. "We're still trying to account for all the residents, but there is no reason to believe anybody's left inside."

The cause of the blaze is unknown, Dupuis said.

Nine units in the main building and two more in an adjacent building caught fire, Dupuis said. Residents said there are roughly 20 units in the complex.

Dupuis said that while the smoke detectors appeared to be working, the building does not have sprinklers or access to a pressurized fire hydrant.

Initial crews arrived with one tanker truck of water and two engines, but they quickly exhausted the thousands of gallons it held, he said.

"We had water problems. ... We had no constant water supply when we (got) here," Dupuis said. "On a fire this size, we need water — a lot of it, and a lot of it fast."

To ensure a steady flow, crews then set up a pool of water on Sanford Road, which was constantly refilled by a stream of tanker trucks from Kennebunkport, Eliot and beyond. That water traveled more than 100 feet down snaking firehoses before reaching the flames.

Don Crocker, 43, said he was shocked by the lack of water access.

"As a tenant, the amount of effort it took to get the water here is eye-opening," he said. "There should be a hydrant."

Crocker lives in a section of the building that the fire did not reach, but said he smelled smoke as he exited. He first heard about the blaze, less than 100 feet from his door, over a police radio scanner, he said.

Black smoke poured from the building's third-floor windows for more than an hour, as firefighters doused the remaining hot spots from the ground and a ladder truck. Smaller flames spread to nearby trees, which glowed with hot embers.

The scent of fire spread at least a half mile down Sanford Road and a pillar of smoke rose over the tree line.

Residents, some wrapped in blankets, stood outside watching the smoke billow from the building. Officials told residents that they could warm up in a nearby church.

Dupuis said his department was working with the Red Cross to provide for those who lost their homes.

Brandon Martin said he was on his way home when the fire broke out. Staring into the smoke around 6 p.m., he said he lived on the second floor.

"Me and my fiancée were actually moving into a house in Saturday," he said.

Martin said they had been storing boxes in a room that became engulfed in flames.

"Now we're essentially without anything," he said.

Dave Thurber, 59, said his daughter and her girlfriend live on the third floor. Thurber lives a few minutes away and said his daughter called him when the alarms began to blare. He said both women, and their two cats, made it out safe.

"She called me. She was screaming on the phone, so I took off," Thurber said. "The deck was completely on fire, so they couldn't come out that way."

That deck had a staircase to the ground level, which might have served as an emergency exit. Instead, the women ran out via the interior staircase, Thurber said.

As he spoke, the charred remains of the wooden deck sat piled against the building's exterior.

Marty Devlin, owner of the property, walked the grounds speaking with tenants. Devlin said he heard from multiple residents that everyone made it out safely.

"I'm just happy that everyone made it out," Devlin said. He declined to answer further questions and said it was too early to speculate on a precise cause.

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