Fire Destroys Edgecomb Home, Occupants Escape without Major Injury

An early morning structure fire in Edgecomb on Friday, May 19 resulted in a total loss of the home. Two occupants escaped without major injury.

“When I arrived on scene, the house was fully involved, with fire coming through the roof and the roof collapsing into the house,” Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter said.

The Lincoln County Communications Center paged his department at 1:56 a.m. for the structure fire at 58 Old County Road.

“While I was en route, I saw the glow and embers as I crested the hill by my fire station, and I sounded a second alarm,” he said.

The Alna, Boothbay, Damariscotta, Newcastle, Nobleboro, Wiscasset, and Woolwich fire departments responded as mutual aid shortly afterwards.

“Once I got on scene, I knew it was going to be a defensive attack,” Potter said. “We got a water supply set up, and we were able to get it extinguished.”

Elaine Wooster and her son, Theodore Wooster, were the only occupants of the home that night.

They left their cell phones in the house when the fire began, according to Potter, and drove to a relative’s house to call the fire department. Both went to LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta in private vehicles, Potter said, and later returned to the scene.

He said the home had collapsed on itself and was a total loss. Potter did not know if it had been insured. The department called an excavator to remove rubble so departments could fully extinguish the site after the state fire marshal’s office investigated.

Potter said Maine State Fire Marshal concluded that the fire’s cause will remain undetermined, as not enough of the structure remained to provide evidence.

The fire was not suspicious in nature, according to Potter.

The scene was cleared around 8:30 a.m.

“I want to thank all the mutual aid towns that come” when his department needs assistance, Potter said. “We’re all shorthanded, and we have to call in a lot more towns now in order to get the manpower.”