Smoking was the cause of a Thursday morning fire that burned Warren’s oldest home.
The fire broke out in a first-floor apartment of the yellow Main Street residence about 6 a.m., according to Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Three people from that apartment were taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. A woman and a man suffered smoke inhalation. The man was later taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
A second woman jumped from a second-story window to escape the fire. She suffered minor injuries in the jump.
A portion of the building was built in 1787 by the Rev. Thurston Whiting, while it was expanded in 1870. A plaque at the site says it is the oldest building in Warren, according to the Midcoast Villager.
It is now divided into three apartments.
Investigators determined the fire began around a couch in the first-floor apartment and believe it was caused by the “careless use of smoking materials.”
