2007 Maine Press Association Award—First Place, Spot News Story, Weekly
Fire destroys Brown Street apartments By Charlie Smith Reporter WESTBROOK (May 3, 2006): Half of 195 Brown St. had collapsed and firefighters had been working for over an hour when tenant Lori Brogan came running down Brown Street last Wednesday morning. Until that moment, nobody knew whether Brogan, who had been visiting a friend at the time of the fire, had gotten out of the building alive. With her arrival, all of the building's tenants were accounted for and uninjured.
An April 26 fire destroyed this Brown Street apartment building, leaving six families homeless. (Photo by Robert Lowell) Westbrook Fire Chief Gary Littlefield said firefighters from Westbrook, Portland, and Gorham worked until 10 p.m. putting out the flames and investigating the cause of the fire that engulfed the six-unit apartment building and sent flames and smoke high into the air over Brown Street on April 26. He said he “wouldn’t even attempt to guess” what caused the fire until an investigation is done and, with the amount of damage to the building, finding an answer will be difficult. Investigators believe the origin of the fire was the left front part of the building, which firefighters dismantled layer by layer to find any clues to what started the blaze, said Littlefield. “We’re still interviewing people, still looking at it,” Littlefield said. “At this point it’s still under investigation.”
The state fire marshal’s office is assisting in the investigation. Littlefield said it’s common practice to engage the expertise of the state in extreme fires such as these where extensive damage makes it difficult to divine a cause.
Friends and neighbors watch in disbelief as fire destroys an apartment building on Brown Street last week. (Photo by Robert Lowell) Westbrook dispatch received numerous calls reporting the fire at around 11:30 a.m. Littlefield said, and he was the first fire official to arrive. When Littlefield got to the scene, he could barely see the front of the building because all three levels were engulfed in flames and smoke was pouring heavily out of the windows, which had been blown out. “It was roaring when I got here,” he said. Resident Dean Hamlin said he was in his first-floor apartment when a neighbor came over to use the phone to call 911. Hamlin said smoke was coming out of his neighbor’s apartment in the front of the building. Hamlin said he left the building, and within eight to 10 minutes flames were coming out of the roof and shooting 50 feet into the air. “There was smoke, and then next thing you know, ka-boom,” he said. “The building was a tinderbox.” Building owner Larry Sterne said he suspects the fire started in a first-floor apartment. Sterne said he talked with the tenant who lived in the apartment, and he told Sterne he’d left his apartment to repair an antenna on the roof for about eight minutes, and when he returned, he said the curtains in his apartment were on fire. Littlefield said the first attempt by firefighters to enter the building was thwarted by blasts of heavy black smoke. The firefighters then changed tactics to battle the flames from the outside of the building, using automated hoses attached to the ends
of ladders on fire engines. One engine from Westbrook was set to work on the east side of the house and an engine from Portland attacked it from the west side. While the two engines fought the flames coming out of the roof and drenched the inside of the building, Brogan's friends feared the woman might still be trapped in her apartment on the second floor. At around 12:45 p.m., as tenants and neighbors watched, the left front part of the roof fell in on itself and, within seconds, the upper left portion of the building’s facade crashed down onto the sidewalk below and the left half of the house collapsed. A tense 15 minutes later, Brogan came running up Brown Street. Brogan was at a friend’s house on North Street when the fire broke out. When Brogan saw the ruin of her apartment, she ran under the yellow caution tape and up to within 20 feet of the building, then bent over double, crying. A teenage boy who trailed her up the street hugged her and backed her away from the fire while fire hoses continued to bore into the building. “Everyone thought I was in the fire,” Brogan said a few minutes later. “I’m shaken up right now.”
Lori Brogan, who was one of the tenants of the Brown Street apartment building destroyed in a fire April 26, seeks support from friends. (Photo by Robert Lowell) Her landlord was thankful that she’d gotten out as well. “I’m very glad that everybody got out,” said Sterne. “Because it happened during the day—there’s a number of children in that building. Luckily, everybody got out.” City Councilor Dottie Aube, who lives on the opposite corner of Brown and King streets from the building, said the heat was intense. “We could feel the heat over here,” she said.
Aube said the apartment building “burst into flames” three times. “They got it under control, and it started again,” she said. A resident of Cape Elizabeth, Sterne said he bought the building in December as an investment to help with his kids’ college educations. He said it’s the first apartment building he’s owned. However, while he’s concerned about the effects of the fire on his own life, he’s more worried about his tenants, who are now homeless. Unfortunately, he doesn’t own any other buildings to transplant them, he said. “The Red Cross is helping out the tenants for several days,” he said. “If anyone knows other sources of aid—there are several tenants with children.” The Southern Maine Chapter of the American Red Cross is providing temporary housing, food, and clothing to the victims of the fire.
Based in Westbrook, Reporter Charlie Smith can be reached at 207-854-2577 or by e-mail at csmith@keepmecurrent.com.