CANTON — A woods fire Thursday afternoon on Canton Point Road appeared to be caused by a downed power line, according to Fire Chief Robert Chase of the Rumford Fire Department.
The fire spread quickly due to the dry conditions, Chase said.
“It’s incredibly dry,” he said. “People must take a lot of care with any open burning or discarding of cigarettes.”
A mobile home and a house flank each side of the .7-acre fire.
Jessica Noyes, who lives in the mobile home, said she received a call while she was at work from one of the women in the trailer park, alerting her of the fire.
“It was pretty scary because I already went through a fire once,” she said.
Across the street from the fire in Canton Point Park, Lauren Merchant called 911.
“The new (Central Maine Power) pole was on fire, and something caught on the line; a limb or something,” she said. “I saw the flame and the wire came down.”
A crew from Central Maine Power was waiting for firefighters to clean up the scene before repairing the wires.
Fire departments from Rumford, Jay, Dixfield, Mexico and Peru assisted at the scene.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net
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