Early-morning blaze destroys one home on Bustin's Island; another home saved by Freeport firefighters and residents.
FREEPORT — An older home on the east shore of Bustin's Island was engulfed in flames early today despite the considerable efforts of longtime island residents and the Freeport Fire Department that ultimately saved an adjacent home.
"Boy, they went to work. They did everything they could," Bustin's Island Village Corporation vice-chairperson Pat LaFleur said today. "Old men, old women, and young people ... they really did a marvelous job, or that other house would've burned to the ground, and who knows what would've happened from there."
The 1:21 a.m. call drew 23 members of the Freeport Fire Department, with the first four heading over on the Freeport Harbormaster's boat and 19 more on the Bustin's Island ferry, the Lilly B, Fire Chief Darrel Fournier said. Despite the low tide, the boats were anchored near the shoreline and used as a platform for a portable pump to draw seawater for the effort.
By the time the Freeport fire team arrived on the island at 1:55 a.m., the island volunteers had the island's tank truck, pump truck, water tank and brush truck on the scene, Fournier said, but the two-story wooden structure had "pretty much collapsed in on itself." Fire personnel soaked two 200-pound propane tanks attached to the home and removed them to minimize the danger, but the home, owned by John Thomas III of Freeport, was a total loss, Fournier said. He estimated the damage, with the building's contents, at about $200,000.
Thanks to islanders' quick work, though, another home within 20 feet was saved. Volunteers doused the structure with water, Fournier said, resulting in only a small amount of damage from radiant heat. "They did a good job protecting that other structure," he said.
"It was like something out of a movie to watch people arrive on the scene, immediately take action and just do what had to be done," LaFleur said. "Andy Pease and Reid Tozier, you would've thought they were professional firefighters." LaFleur added that a number of island residents who were back on the mainland by Monday returned early today in their boats to aid in the effort.
Island resident Faith Baker said residents stomped through the woods with "Indian tanks" on their backs to extinguish embers and she drove the pump truck. Islanders are thankful for recent rain because the island was very wet, she said, and even without much wind, embers from the fire were reported across the island.
The last fire LaFleur remembers on the island was in the 1950s. She said she doesn't know how today's fire started, but that Bustin's residents are "so careful about fire danger" and the island's public safety committee has been working on fire safety all summer. Fournier said he will return to the island today to further investigate the cause.
On Saturday, a wedding had been scheduled at the Thomas home, and family members and other guests had begun to gather on the island for the celebration. The wedding will take place as scheduled, except in a nearby home, LaFleur said. While Fournier said a number of the couple's items were lost in the fire, including their marriage license. This morning, after the ashes had cooled, Baker and one of the homeowners raked through and found their wedding rings.
Many island residents plan to attend the wedding on Saturday, and the wedding dance at the island community house later Saturday night.
"It was our worst nightmare, but this island pulled together like a family and kept that fire from spreading," LaFleur said. "Except for the fact that such a terrible thing happened to our island, I'm so proud of our island." |
