Deer Isle house fire displaces mother and young son

Six fire departments called in to help battle blaze

A fire destroyed a one-story home and adjacent garage at 15 Sandplum Lane in Deer Isle. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Photo from GoFundMe.

Dec. 31, 2025

By Tricia Thomas

DEER ISLE—A mid-morning fire at 15 Sandplum Lane in Deer Isle gutted a home and garage on Dec. 29 and has left a mother and young son homeless.

Fire fighters spent five hours extinguishing the blaze. Photo from GoFundMe.

Homeowner Mary Dyer and her four-year-old son were displaced by the fire but were not injured, said Brent Morey, chief of the Deer Isle Volunteer Fire Department. One dog sustained smoke inhalation and was taken to an emergency veterinary hospital in Holden. Another dog found at the scene could not be saved, Morey said.

Morey said that a wood-framed garage on the property was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived on the scene at about 10:30 a.m. The fire had also begun spreading to the house, a one-story, double-wide mobile home located three to four feet away, Morey said.

“Both structures are a total loss,” he said.

The fire took about five hours to fully extinguish. While conditions were “a bit icy,” requiring crews to sand the property’s driveway, temperatures were relatively mild, Morey said. Firefighters also had to work around a store of ignited and exploding ammunition in the garage, he said.

Six local volunteer fire departments responded to the fire, including Deer Isle, Stonington, Brooklin, Brooksville, Penobscot and Sedgwick, with Blue Hill providing backup coverage for Sedgwick, Morey said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

A relative of Dyer’s has created a GoFundMe page to help cover temporary housing, food and other necessities. Almost $10,000 had been raised by Dec. 31.