Forest service will investigate cause of Robbinston fire

The investigation continues into who is responsible for a camp fire that started a wind-driven fire on Sunday, July 13, ultimately burning 131 acres in Robbinston.

"It could be an unfortunate accident, but it was not properly extinguished, so we're determined to find out who was responsible," says Maine Forest Service District Ranger Jeff Currier of the camp fire that had been made on the shore of Howard Lake not far from a family camp that it destroyed. Currier was in charge of coordinating the fire suppression efforts, which included firefighters from many area departments, as well as trained inmates from the Charleston and Downeast correctional facilities.

"I can't credit Jeff Currier and the Maine Forest Service enough," says Robbinston Fire Chief Bob Merrill. "They were quite instrumental in helping us coordinate everything. They got in two helicopters, six or eight bulldozers and two excavators."

Merrill says the blaze was originally called in Sunday morning as a structure fire. "It was at the Bill Johnson camp at Howard Lake, [which] has no electricity. It's about three miles in [on Mount Holly Road]."

"We got within a half-mile of the camp, when we [encountered] extremely heavy smoke conditions," he reports. "We knew it was from the camp, and that it was fully involved." Knowing that the fire was starting to spread, Merrill called for mutual aid.

Perry Fire Chief Paula Frost says she learned of the fire at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday. "I heard radio traffic, so I decided to go see if we could lend a hand. We brought a pumper and two tankers and arrived shortly after Robbinston [fire department]. We set up on Howard Lake boat landing, and the rest of us went out for suppression efforts. Ten of us joined Robbinston and Charlotte for an initial attack, and there was fire everywhere."

Six firetrucks were on the single-lane camp road, says Frost, "when the fire jumped over us. We were plugging up the road and trying to get turned around and get out."

"It crowned quickly," she reports. "It was jumping from tree-to-tree. And it was a deep burn. In some places, four to six inches. There was severe scorching."

Currier says when he got the initial call he put a Maine Forest Service Huey helicopter on standby in Old Town but, as he got more updates early Sunday afternoon, "it was clear it was going to be a sizable fire. It was growing at a rapid rate. The wind was 20 miles per hour."

At about 12:45 p.m., Currier says, "I determined it would [burn] 10 acres or more" so he called for more fire rangers, and a second Huey helicopter to ferry water. An incident command post was set up on the Robbinston Ridge Road, and Currier divided the fire into four divisions to make it easier to fight. Each was under the direction of a forest ranger.

Heavy equipment was brought in to create 8' to 12' wide fire breaks "all the way down to mineral soil, so it could not smolder under ground," says Currier.

By 7 p.m. on Monday evening, Currier says, the fire was contained.

Although there were about 55 firefighters at the scene on Sunday and about 80 at its height on Monday, no one fighting the fire was seriously injured. The Robbinston fire chief knew of one firefighter who was stung by hornets while he was setting up a pump, and Currier says an 18-year-old firefighter suffered from heat exhaustion and was taken to Calais Regional Hospital where he was treated and released.

Firefighters will remain in the Howard Lake area for many days watching for flare-ups. "With the temperature, wind and relative humidity, there have been a fair amount of hot spots," notes Currier. "We're going to be very careful about not leaving the fire too soon."

Robbinston Fire Chief Bob Merrill says, in addition to the Maine Forest Service, he is grateful to the owners of the Strawberry Patch convenience store, Doug and Cathy Diffin, for providing meals to the firefighters. He was also pleasantly surprised that the Salvation Army chapter in Portland sent a unit to Robbinston to provide food and drinks. Merrill points out that Wayne and Anita Johnson were very helpful because they allowed the firefighting command post to be set up on their property.

Currier says Washington and Hancock counties are the driest district in the State of Maine at this time, so the Maine Forest Service will continue to schedule fire detection flights several times a day. "We're in an elevated stage of readiness. I like to think of ourselves as a little insurance policy for the State of Maine."