Community Helps Victims of East Side Fire 

Tuesday morning fire at 128 Emery Street.
Photo: Sanford Fire Department

By Lee Burnett, Submissions editor 

Two mothers and eight children were displaced by the fire that destroyed an apartment at East Side Acres last Tuesday. 

One family is staying in a local hotel, and another will be moving into a different apartment in East Side Acres, according to Diane Small, executive director of the Sanford Housing Authority, which owns the property. 

The Fire Department quickly extinguished the blaze at 128 Emery St., but not before it destroyed one apartment and made a next-door apartment uninhabitable. Four people who inhaled smoke were taken by ambulance to Southern Maine Health Care and later released, according to Small. 

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. 

The American Red Cross is helping both families.  Strategies for a Stronger Sanford also swung into action, vacating an office in a matter of hours so it could be quickly converted back into an apartment. 

“It was amazing,” Small said. 

Friends and family have also stepped up. Lisa Miller made an appeal for help on behalf of her family on the Facebook Group Sanford Springvale: The Happening. Nathan Mccabe, the brother of one of the fire victims, has started a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of her family.  

North Parish Congregational Church, which has established a clothing and furniture repurposing program, is also accepting donations for the families. Donations may be brought to the church on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 10 am. to 1 pm. For more information on church donations, call 324-3163.