Worker burned by fire at road construction site outside city hall
By Russ Reed
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AUBURN, Maine (WMTW) — The Auburn Police, Fire and Public Works departments closed multiple roads and intersections for hours due to a fire that started at a road construction site outside City Hall and left a worker injured.
Officials said firefighters and police officers responded to the area of 60 Court St. shortly after 1:35 p.m. Thursday, and found a significant fire on the ground that had extended into a manhole.
The fire department said crews were able to extinguish the flames within minutes, but it took several hours to take care of the remaining hot spots that were underground.
Maine’s Total Coverage has learned the fire started while a private contractor was doing scheduled pipe lining work in front of Auburn City Hall.
Officials said the cause of the fire is believed to be related to a fueling accident at the construction site, which ignited the underground resin liner that was being installed.
“During that particular operation, there was some type of accident involving some fuel that ignited the resin liner, and the resin liner — being flammable — caught fire,” said Deputy Fire Chief Matt Fifield.
One worker suffered burns to his arms. He was transported to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston to receive treatment.
Police announced shortly after 2:10 p.m. Thursday that Court Street was shut down from Union Street to the Longley Bridge, and that Turner Street was closed from Court Street to the Union Street bypass.
The road closures meant that the intersections of Court and Main streets and Turner and Hampshire streets were also closed.
In addition, police said the Longley Bridge was closed to traffic, including vehicles trying to come into Auburn from Lewiston. Those vehicles are being rerouted onto Lincoln Street.
At 9:50 p.m., police announced that all roadways and travel lanes had been reopened.
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