June 21 – A Portland woman woke up around 5 a.m. to flames and smoke coming from the building next door.
Ruth Ridge, 48, said she saw the fire more clearly through the bathroom window and then woke up her nephew. She took him and his chihuahua to Beal’s Ice Cream down the street to escape the smoke.
“There’s a lot of damage,” Ridge said. “I was worried about my house.”
The fire at the three-unit building at 23 Pembroke St. in Portland was reported shortly after 5 a.m. Friday, Portland Fire Department spokesman Sean Donaghue said.
He said the department raised a second alarm Friday at 5:43 a.m. and a third alarm at 5:57 a.m. to bring more crews to the scene.
The call came after another fire was reported in the same apartment building Thursday afternoon during afternoon thunderstorms. The seven people who lived there were evacuated, so there was no one in the building at the time of the Friday morning fire, Donaghue said.
But he said the two fires do not appear to be related or suspicious.
Firefighters were still actively battling the fire at 8am. By 9:30 a.m., Donaghue said crews were working to find and extinguish any hot spots. The building appeared to have been damaged by a fire near the roof and several windows were broken. Crews appeared to be working on all three floors.
Veranda Street remained closed between Washington Avenue and Sherwood Street as of 10:30 a.m. Firefighters are asking people to avoid the area.
This story will be updated.
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