CHELSEA — A family of three is homeless after a fire destroyed part of their mobile home Monday morning. 

Jon Roby said he was out buying bait to go ice fishing when a neighbor called him to say his home at 534 Hallowell Road was on fire.

Roby’s wife, Mireya, was at work at Lakeside Orchard; and his 14-year-old daughter was at a friend’s home.

“I had just installed a new smoke detector two or three weeks ago,” Roby said.

The home, which is near the Young Road intersection, was insured; but Roby said he was unsure about what would be included in the coverage. He had lived there for about 16 years.

Roby said he already had received some offers of help from friends and family, and two men were viewing the damage with him Monday morning while firefighters wrapped up their equipment.

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Chelsea Assistant Fire Chief Jim Gagnon said the fire was reported about 9 a.m. and was under control within about a half-hour.

“It’s pretty much totally gone,” Gagnon said, watching other firefighters survey the blackened area at one end of the mobile home. 

The blaze also destroyed a porch, but a nearby garage and what appeared to be a deck surrounding a pool were spared.

“The key is nobody was there” when the fire broke out, Gagnon said. 

He said the origin of the fire had yet to be determined.

“It doesn’t appear to be suspicious,” Gagnon said, adding that an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office would be called to the scene, which is standard procedure when a cause can’t be determined.

About 30 firefighters from Chelsea and VA Maine Healthcare System-Togus and Augusta Rescue responded to the blaze on a frigid Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Betty Adams — 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com 


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