The Rindge Fire Department responded to two incidents on Monday night, including a fire that damaged the exterior of a home on Middle Winchendon Road.
Fire Chief and Director of Life Safety Rickard Donovan said Tuesday that crews were called out at about 7 p.m., for what was originally reported as a chimney fire, with fire on the roof, at a Middle Winchendon home.
The cause of the fire was determined to have started outside of the metal asbestos chimney, rather than inside of it. Donovan said it appears a bird nest built between the chimney pipe on the exterior of the house had ignited, likely from contact with the heat from the chimney, and had ignited the house. The homeowner was home at the time, and saw the sparks from the window, alerting emergency services.
Donovan said the fire was limited to the exterior of the home, and caused relatively minor damage.
Shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, crews responded to a report of a fire in a plaza on Route 202, behind the Market Basket. The fire was caused by a malfunction of the propane vaporizer system, and did not affect any of the plaza buildings.
The fire department shut down the propane tank, until it could be evaluated. Donovan said there was no damage as a result of the fire.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.