WEST PARIS — Three adults escaped a blaze that destroyed a home at 8 Finn Road late Thursday night as firefighters from 10 towns responded.
The cause was being investigated by the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office on Friday.
West Paris Deputy Fire Chief Troy Billings said the home’s location 6 to 7 miles from the nearest water source down a narrow dirt road and gusting winds complicated the firefighting efforts.
The home, owned by Michael and Linda Korhonen, was destroyed. It was reported at about 11:30 p.m., but Billings said by the time the first firefighters from West Paris arrived, the building was already collapsing.
A garage attached to the house was all that remained Friday morning.
Billings said an adult son of the Korhonens — who was staying with them — alerted the couple sleeping in an upstairs bedroom. Billings said there was no working smoke detector on the second story.
A family member said Friday night that the Korhonens were too distraught to talk to the media. They are staying with a neighbor, the family member said.
Billings said firefighters had to set up a 900-foot water line and access to the scene was difficult because of the road’s width and condition.
Compounding the challenge of fighting the fire in heavy winds in a remote location was a shortage of volunteers, Billings said.
Billings said a total of 40 volunteers from West Paris, Paris, Norway, Oxford, Woodstock, Rumford, Greenwood, Buckfield, Bethel and Sumner showed up, but one crew from Bethel was called back for a fire in that town.
Billings said towns that 10 years ago would have been able to send him as many as 15 volunteers were only able to muster two people and a single truck.
“When we talk about the firefighter shortage, that’s what we are talking about,” Billings said. “That’s why we have to call so many towns.”
He said the volunteer firefighters who are left are loyal and that’s a good thing because “nobody can do it by themselves and it’s great to know everybody has each other’s back.”
Billings also said he hopes people will step up and join local volunteer fire departments.
“If anybody out there ever thought about wanting to help their neighbors, that’s the thing they should do: Go out and join their fire department so you can boost their membership so we have enough firefighters,” Billings said.
Finn Road is a dead end that runs off Forbes Road. According to the town’s property tax records, the property was valued at $97,000 for tax purposes in 2015.
Man charged for trespassing at fire site
By Leslie H. Dixon Staff Writer
WEST PARIS — Police say a 40-year-old West Paris man, who had repeatedly been told to stay away from a Finn Street home, was arrested near the property the morning after the house burned to the ground.
Neil Lantienge, of West Paris, was arrested on Friday, Feb. 26, and charged with criminal trespass as he was walking near the scene of the fire that destroyed a house owned by Michael and Linda Korhonen at 8 Finn Road late in the night of Thursday, Feb. 25. Three adults escaped the blaze unharmed.
Fire officials say the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
About 40 firefighters from West Paris, Paris, Norway, Oxford, Woodstock, Rumford, Greenwood, Buckfield, Bethel and Sumner responded to the structure fire at 11:30 p.m. and remained on the scene until early morning.
According to police reports, Lantienge was walking his dog, Alice, near the fire scene the following morning. Lantienge lives at 18 Ellingwood Road, less than a mile from the fire scene. The two roads intersect at Morse Hill Road.
Police were called to the scene for what was described as a “disturbance” involving Lantienge and a group of males, including at least two members of the Korhonen family, who police said were detaining Lantienge.
Lantienge said in his witness report that he was walking on property that was legally accessible when he was confronted by the family. Lantienge said because he was “afraid for my safety,” he called to nearby fire personnel still at the scene for help because he thought he was about to be attacked.
Police say the trespassing issue between Lantienge and the Korhonen family has been “ongoing” and that Lantienge has been notified by the owners and police to stay off the property. Police also say fire personnel reported Lantienge as saying that he was “taking my victory walk with my dog,” and “This is the happiest day of my life.”
In his witness report, Lantienge said he was worried about his safety walking in the area previously. He reported on Feb. 14 he was walking his dog on snowmobile trails that he said are not on the Korhonen property when he heard a “rapid succession” of 12 to 15 gunshots coming from the Korhonen property. The gunshots stopped after he walked by.
“I fear for my safety,” he wrote in his statement.
He contends that he was not walking on Korhonen property on Feb. 26.
Police records indicate Lantienge has been issued a number of trespass warnings by the sheriff’s office and had been warned by the owner and deputies on at least six occasions last fall to stay away from the Korhonen property.
Lantienge is due back in Oxford County Superior Court in April.
ldixon@sunmediagroup.net
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