PERU — An unattended scented candle in a Yankee Candle Co. glass jar atop a hot wood stove caught fire, attracting about a dozen firefighters from Peru and Dixfield late Wednesday morning when the homeowner called 911 to report a structure fire, fire officials said.

However, Peru fire Assistant Chief Dean Milligan said the fire at 11:32 a.m. didn’t extend into the home of Robert Martin at 65 Hammond Hill Road, which is near the intersection of Mineral Springs and Gammon Hill roads.

Instead, Martin, using a small fire extinguisher, put the fire out in the wood room before firefighters arrived, Milligan said. There was no damage to the house and there were no injuries.

“The homeowner did a good job in evacuating his family, calling 911 and he knocked it down,” he said. “Heat from the wood stove boiled the wax up and over the glass and onto the stove, where it caught fire.”

Arriving firefighters made sure there wasn’t any fire extending into the walls and ceiling before using an exhaust fan to ventilate smoke from the single-family home, Milligan said.

Firefighters on scene said that despite the smoke, the house “smelled nice” inside.

The initial structure fire call about a log exploding in the fireplace triggered mutual-aid response from firefighters in Canton, Mexico and Rumford, but they were called off when arriving Peru firefighters learned the house wasn’t ablaze.

Med-Care Ambulance, Oxford County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Holland and district forest Ranger Jay Bernard assisted.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link