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Rangers Say York County Fire Has Been Contained

Jack Bogard
/
Maine Forest Rangers
The fire on the Kennebunk-Sanford line

State Forest Fire Rangers say a fast moving outdoor fire that burned more than 300 acres of scrub oak and pitch pine in the Kennebunk area near Sanford and Wells has been contained.

District Ranger George Harris says the fire started just after 5 p.m. yesterday. He says yesterday's warm temperatures and strong winds, along with the fact that things haven't yet greened up, contributed to the fire.

“So we're looking at dead leaves, dead grass, all conducive to contributing to spring fires.”

Drones from the York County Emergency Management Agency were among the resources used by firefighters to help contain a fast moving outdoor blaze that consumed more than three hundred acres of scrub oak and pitch pine in the Kennebunk area near Sanford and Wells. Harris says the drones are equiped with infrared sensors.

“So they can detect heat spots, and they were able to provide us video to strategically place firefighters to hit those places first,” he says.

Harris says firefighters also used a helicopter, bulldozers and atv's converted to firefighting use in their efforts to bring the fire under control.

Harris says the fire scene will be monitored for the next few days to make sure everything is out. An investigation is underway to determine how the fire started.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.