Home destroyed by fire; two buildings damaged

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A fire Saturday evening destroyed a New Portland home and damaged another home and the Post Office next door.

NEW PORTLAND – The Post Office may be without power and received some damage to the building after a fire broke out next door which destroyed a home Saturday night, but that hasn’t stopped Postmaster Vici Anderson from getting the mail out.

Late Saturday afternoon, neighbors reported seeing smoke at Eric Anderson’s home on River Road. They also called Jo Dobrouch to tell her about the fire at the Anderson’s because her home is only a few feet away from his. Disabled, she wears an alert system around her neck in case of emergency.

“I pulled my lifeline and they came really quickly,” Dobrouch said. Moving her to safety, fire crews from eight area departments worked into the night to keep the fire from spreading to Dobrouch’s home. They also worked to save the small post office building on the other side of Anderson’s home.

While Anderson’s home was a complete loss, the post office and Dobrouch’s home were damaged from the intense heat of the fire that melted siding and broke windows. At one point, flames licked the side of Dobrouch’s home and it looked like both homes would be lost but firefighters managed to stop it from going any further.

Today, Postmaster Anderson was busy helping customers as usual as her husband John replaced the damaged glass in a window at the post office.

“It melted and blistered the siding, broke a window and we haven’t got any power yet,” Vici Anderson said and added, “Not too bad.” The post office building is also owned by Eric Anderson. Firefighters said they didn’t know how the blaze got started and ruled it an “undetermined cause.”

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