PARIS — The District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether a fire set by the town’s deputy fire chief that unintentionally destroyed his unoccupied house broke any laws, officials said Monday. 

Oxford County Assistant District Attorney Richard Beauchesne said Monday that his office is awaiting a report from Maine Forest Service to determine if charges will be filed. 

The report, Beauchesne said, is expected in the next few weeks. 

Last week, crews from two towns responded to a fire intended to destroy a torn-down barn that ended up gutting the nearby unoccupied house on 363 High St.

Both buildings belonged to Deputy Fire Chief Willie Buffington of Paris, who had obtained a permit from the Maine Forest Service to dispose of the barn’s debris. 

Buffington, 72, previously said he lost control of the fire when it jumped from the debris pile onto the old house and ignited it in just a few minutes. He said he intended to tear down the home eventually, but that the fire was unintentional. 

According to the Maine Forest Service website, permits require a 50-foot setback between the fire and any structure, a plumbed hose, buckets of water, aid and fires not be set between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. unless it’s raining.

Buffington previously said the distance between the pile of barn rubble and the house was about 10 feet. 

Frost said the Fire Department has the authority to bill people to cover the cost of fighting a fire, though it rarely does. Between materials and wages, he put the cost of the blaze at just over $1,300. 

Heat from the fire burned overhanging telephone and cable lines, briefly knocking out emergency communication in three towns. Officials at the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in Paris said repair costs for those lines would be covered by the private companies owning them and not taxpayers.

Ranger Brad Bucknell, who is compiling the investigative report, declined to comment on the case, citing the pending investigation. 

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