Investigators believe a January fire that destroyed a Bailey Island home resulted from an accident involving gasoline collected from junkyard cars ignited by a kerosene heater. All four people inside the house at the time made it out, although one was treated for burns.
Details of the report by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which the Anchor obtained through a request under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, make it clear the occupants were living in difficult conditions. The site, which had been cleaned up by the town in 2024, remains littered with debris months after the fire.
The fire was reported in the early hours of Jan. 23. Temperatures were in the low 20s, according to the report. Responders from Harpswell and neighboring towns spent approximately three hours at the scene. The two-story home at 7 Hugh Ave. burned to the ground. Firefighters were able to save an adjacent house at 5 Hugh Ave., which sustained minor heat damage.
Michael Coffin investigated the fire for the Fire Marshal’s Office, largely basing his work on interviews with some of the people who were in the home. The extent of the damage made it impossible for him to definitively determine the cause.
Coffin said the home’s electricity had been disconnected before the fire, and the occupants had been powering the home with portable generators for several months. They were also using an open-flame kerosene heater.
According to the report, a man staying in the house had been collecting gasoline from junkyard cars and filtering it in the house to fuel generators.
The night of the fire, as he carried an open bucket of gasoline across the living room, investigators believe the kerosene heater’s flame lit the gasoline fumes. That caused the man to drop the bucket, spreading the fire further.
Although small portions of the report are redacted, it suggests the man was treated for burns. The Fire Marshal’s Office had said in January that one man was taken to the hospital with a burn injury to his wrist.
That initial statement from the Fire Marshal’s Office suggested a generator and heater contributed to the fire.
The man and homeowner Shania Richardson fled the house. Two other people were trapped upstairs by fire and heat, and they were rescued by ladder.
The house had been in the news in 2024, when the town issued a rare order to Richardson to clean up the property. The town ultimately hired a contractor to remove six truckloads of refuse.
Neighbors had long complained about garbage and debris in the yard, as well as suspicious activity. Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office deputies made hundreds of visits to the address between 2022 and 2024. In one 2023 incident, deputies found stolen property taken from Great Island and Harpswell Neck.
Despite the 2024 cleanup, the property was still cluttered on the night of the fire. Firefighters encountered a number of propane tanks and reported hearing explosions during the blaze. The investigator’s report describes finding several fire-damaged vehicles in the driveway.
Dozens of small and large burned objects, including propane tanks and gas cylinders, still littered the yard when a reporter visited on Aug. 7. The cars were gone, but a dilapidated pop-up camper stood in their place.
The Anchor was not able to contact Richardson or identify any of the other people who were in the house at the time of the fire.
Diana Evans, who lives at 5 Hugh Ave., said she and her daughter last saw Richardson in March, when she arrived with the pop-up camper.
Evans said she was worried Richardson was trying to live on the property, so she called the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies came that day, March 13, and arrested Richardson on an alleged probation violation.
Evans said they have not seen Richardson since, and no one else has tried to live in the camper. But activity has continued at the site.
The Sheriff’s Office has visited the address 44 times since the fire, according to records provided to the Anchor.
Three visits resulted in arrests, including Richardson’s on March 13. Deputies arrested a man on May 22 for failing to appear in court, and another man on Aug. 5 because he had a warrant issued in Androscoggin County.
Evans said people have returned to 7 Hugh Ave. since the fire, often digging through the debris. She called the sheriff again on Aug. 5, when several people were noisily moving debris in the early morning.
The Anchor was not able to determine who owns the property now. Before the fire, it had been scheduled to go to a foreclosure auction in March, but it’s not clear whether the auction occurred.
Evans has paperwork from the Town Office indicating that a South Carolina-based mortgage-servicing company called Shellpoint may be responsible for the address. The company did not respond to an interview request. Harpswell Town Administrator Kristi Eiane was not sure of the status of the property.
Editor’s note: Sam Lemonick is a volunteer with the Cundy’s Harbor Volunteer Fire Department who responded to the January fire. All information in this story comes from interviews and documents, not from firsthand observations of the fire.
