Sun Journal

PARIS, Maine — A permitted fire intended to destroy a torn-down barn ended up gutting the nearby unoccupied house on High Street on Monday afternoon.

No one was injured and there was no one living in the house at the time, which had been cleared of belongings, according to its owner, Willie Buffington, deputy chief of the Paris Fire Department. Flames quickly engulfed the house that Buffington said had been empty for about a year.

Buffington, who has worked for over 50 years as a firefighter in Paris, said he obtained a burning permit to destroy the remnants of the barn. From the barn, the flames ignited the nearby house, which fire Chief Brad Frost described as old and dry.

Full story: Paris deputy fire chief's property accidentally burns