Neighbors say a Leland woman has plans to rebuild, after a fire ripped through her home in Waterford Tuesday. Investigators believe lightning started the fire, and say it could have been burning for some time before anyone saw flames and called 911.
Because the Leland Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department is currently on probation with the state for failing to have enough staff available to respond to a handful of fires last year, some have wondered if those same staffing problems could have contributed to the level of destruction at the home on Nightingale Court.
That does not appear to be the case.
“The fire department did a good job,” neighbor Barbara Fogth said, explaining how they sprayed water on her roof to keep the flames from spreading. Her home sustained minor heat damage from the flames that burned her next-door neighbor’s house down to the studs.
Chief John Grimes was one of the first firefighters on scene after the call came in about the house fire Tuesday around 4:45 pm. At that time, his crews were responding to another fire alarm at Brunswick Cove Living Center, a nursing home on River Road, approximately six miles away.