One was killed and one escaped after a fire destroyed a home on Long Island in Casco Bay, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety said.
The fire at 41 Atlantic Lane was first reported about 3 p.m. Monday and was described as a “working structure fire” by Maine Incident Alerts in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Firefighters from the mainland headed over by boat to reports of a fully involved fire “with reported entrapment,” according to the Lakes Region Maine Fire Rescue News.
“There were two family members in the home at the time,” Shannon Moss, public safety spokesperson, stated Tuesday morning in a news release. “One person was able to get out and run to a nearby home to call for help. The homeowner, believed to be 69-year-old Thomas Johnson, did not make it out of the residence.”
Investigators were unable to conduct a complete search Tuesday because of the amount of debris and a lack of light.
“Investigators returned this morning and have located the remains which will be transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta to confirm the identification,” Moss stated. “The cause of the fire is still under investigation.”
Long Island seceded from Portland in 1993 and has a winter population of about 200, which grows to more than 1,000 in the summer, according to the town website.
It has its own fire and rescue department and a town emergency rescue boat.
It is six miles off the coast of Portland and is reachable only by boat or ferry.