Crews battle intense fire, bitter cold at Saco condo complex
A fire broke out in Saco early Thursday morning.
A fire broke out in Saco early Thursday morning.
A fire broke out in Saco early Thursday morning.
Crews battled intense flames and dangerously cold conditions after a fire tore through a beach front condominium in Saco early Thursday morning.
More than 70 firefighters from several towns helped battle the fire at Baywood Colony on Seaside Avenue.
"On arrival, the crews found heavy fire on the second floor already burning through the roof," Saco Fire Chief John Duross said.
Neighbors described the intense inferno firefighters faced.
"We gathered our emergency belongings together, money, checkbooks and few clothes and we were ready to bail. Opened the door here and the whole wall in front of us was on fire and felt the heat coming through," neighbor Bruce Andrews said.
Temperatures in the single digits and fierce wind and water from the fire hoses turning to ice made for dangerous conditions for firefighters.
"We had a lot of slips, trips and falls because of the ice. There was existing ice underneath -he snow that you could see which was treacherous and then we start throwing water around and everything is coated so it's even that much worse," Saco Deputy Fire Chief David Pendleton said.
Firefighters huddled in buses and in the back of ambulances to get warm before going back to work to fight the fire.
The two-unit building was destroyed and encased in ice after the flames were extinguished.
Andrews, who is the president of the condominium association, said the owner of one of the units is from Massachusetts and had recently hired contractors to do renovation work inside the building.
"So, he's had a team here for the past week or so at least. Two trucks and he told me they were doing walls and ceilings -- so major work," Andrews said.
Investigators from the Maine Fire Marshal's Office will determine the cause of the fire.