March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Storm shelter volunteers lose house to fire

MONMOUTH — After spending the past week at work at a shelter for townspeople whose power was cut off by Maine’s epic ice storm, Rick and Tonya Grant found themselves in need of help themselves.

The couple lost their house to a fire Monday morning.

“It just feels like a continuous bad dream,” said Tonya Grant, who was a site manager at the Red Cross Emergency Shelter in Winthrop.

The fire started in the kitchen and quickly spread through the house. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

“I would consider it [the house] totaled,” said Monmouth fire chief Paul Fox.

On Monday afternoon, Tonya Grant said she was struggling to absorb the events of the day as her husband attended an uncle’s funeral.

Bonnie Bickford, executive director of the United Valley Chapter of the Red Cross, said the fire, on top of the recent death of a family member, was a “one-two punch” for the family.


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