LEWISTON — Tenants were rescued Sunday afternoon after a three-story apartment building on Main Street went up in flames.
The fire was reported shortly before 4 p.m. Within minutes flames had engulfed all three stories along one side of the building at 425 Main St.
Lewiston Fire Chief Mark Caron said the porches on one side of the building were fully engulfed when crews first arrived and that the flames had extended to additional areas of the building.
No injuries were reported, although witnesses described a harrowing scene as the fire moved further into the building.
As the fire spread, Bill Redmun and his friend, Christine Fuller, busted their way into the building to search for trapped tenants.
They had spotted the blaze from nearby 7-Eleven, Redmun said, and immediately abandoned their car to help, kicking in doors and breaking out windows to enter the building.
They then went up to the second and third floors, where they found people still inside their apartments.
“I carried a little kid out,” Redmun said, while Fuller pounded on apartment doors and helped usher others out of the burning building.
“It was absolute insanity,” Redmun said.
One tenant told firefighters that her apartment was filled with oxygen she uses to treat a medical disorder.
Firefighters from several nearby towns were called to help with the blaze.
Witnesses said they could smell and see the smoke as far away as Auburn. Police shut down traffic in an area around the fire scene.
Some buildings near the fire scene were evacuated, witnesses said, as fire crews attempted to keep the flames from spreading. The building sits across Main Street from Dunkin.
By nightfall, crews were still at work at the fire scene. Lewiston Fire Chief Mark Caron said there are 20-units in the building and that all tenants have been displaced by the blaze. It was not immediately known how many people lived in the building.
The Maine Fire Marshal’s Office was assisting with an investigation into the cause of the fire. The cause remained unknown early Sunday night.
By 5:30 p.m., fire crews had the bulk of the flames knocked down, although they were expected to be at the scene well into the evening. The roof appeared to be mostly gone on one side of the building.
At 9 p.m. Sunday, the Red Cross, partnering with the city of Lewiston, opened an emergency shelter for the victims of the fire at the Lewiston Armory, with a shuttle helping to bring them to the facility. They welcomed the tenants’ pets as well.
In a statement Sunday night, Red Cross officials said the organization was supporting 32 people displaced by the fire, with 11 trained Red Cross disaster volunteers on the scene.
The Red Cross and Salvation Army were also supporting firefighters at the scene with food and hydration, according to the statement.