A woman died Monday after a fire on East Main Street in Fort Kent.

Woman Died after Fire in Fort Kent

Fort Kent Fire and Rescue said “Upon arrival, Chief Pelletier was unable to confirm that all tenants of the apartment building were accounted for.”

Fire at the Front of the Building and Second Floor

Firefighters battled the blaze at the front of the building and another crew attacked the second floor.

First Floor Fire Put Out

The fire on the first floor was quickly extinguished.

Crews Learned Someone was Still in the Building

Crews got information that there was someone inside the building.

ALSO READ: One Person Died & One Injured after Rollover ATV Crash

Woman was Located in the Building and First Responders Tried Resuscitation

“Shortly thereafter, firefighters located a civilian victim and rescued her, unfortunately resuscitation efforts by ASI and Fort Kent firefighters were unsuccessful,” said Chief Pelletier with Fort Kent Fire and Rescue.

Maine Fire Marshal’s Office Investigating the Cause of the Fire

The Maine Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the scene and is investigating the cause of the fire.

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Name and Age Not Released Pending Family Notification

The woman’s name and age were not released pending notification of the family.

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Multiple Agencies Responded and Assisted with the Fire

Assisting Fort Kent Fire and Rescue were the Eagle Lake Fire Department, ASI, Fort Kent Public Works and the Red Cross.

Roughly one in four of the 500 voters polled said they’ve “seriously considered” a move and another 28 percent said they’ve weighed it from time to time. That’s despite the vast majority — at least 70 percent — also saying they had enough money to live comfortably right now or weren’t concerned about losing their jobs.

The seemingly contradictory results could be explained by what David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, referred to as the United States’ “K-shaped economy,” in which different economic classes experience different financial outcomes. In Massachusetts, the gap is widening between the state’s richest and its lowest-paid workers.

Voters in lower income brackets were more likely to say they had seriously considered moving, and they were far more likely to be very concerned about losing their jobs.

“The people who are making low incomes are really being punished by inflation and the high cost of food and groceries,” he said.

Those financial concerns were especially pronounced among respondents in the 35-49 age category, whom Paleologos said are “really being pulled in a lot of different directions” by juggling careers, children, and aging parents.

About 40 percent of those who weighed leaving cited the cost of living as their primary issue, while another 18 percent pointed to Massachusetts’s taxes. Some business groups are simultaneously pushing a ballot question this fall that would slash the state’s income tax — and, lawmakers warn, could prompt deep cuts in the state budget if passed.

That proposal is nonetheless proving popular: Nearly 66 percent of poll respondents said they would support the measure, compared to 21 percent who said they would oppose it.

The Suffolk/Globe poll was conducted over five days last week, and its margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Live callers reached respondents via mobile and landline phones, and the Globe spoke with several of those respondents after the poll was conducted.

John Borders, a 49-year-old insurance analyst from Stow, praised Massachusetts’ governance in several areas, including “services for individuals,” public safety, and “pretty good job opportunities.” But Massachusetts’ high cost of living is one area he doesn’t feel the state’s elected officials have handled “much at all.”

As a parent of two high-school-aged kids, however, Borders said he’s been reluctant to leave Massachusetts and its highly regarded public education system for cheaper states to the south.

“As the kids get a little older, the taxes in Massachusetts are a little bit high . . . and it’d be nice to maybe look into an area that didn’t quite have the same kind of taxes,” said Borders, an unenrolled voter.

Many Massachusetts voters, similar to Borders, held a much more optimistic view of their state as compared with the country at large: More than half of respondents, or about 51 percent, said they believed Massachusetts was headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, less than 20 percent said they believed that to be true for the United States as a whole.

But they also had a somewhat dimmer view of the state’s financial footing. Just 5 percent said they considered Massachusetts’s economy to be excellent — 71 percent said it was either “good” or “fair” — and 60 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned about their personal financial situation, indicating an uncertainty about the future.

Some voters said their feelings about politics in other states were part of what kept them from leaving Massachusetts.

Virginia Bilz, a 70-year-old Monson resident, said downsizing from her Massachusetts home feels “almost impossible,” financially speaking. She visits Florida in the summer and has thought about moving south, but ultimately weighed against it.

“I like a lot of other people in Massachusetts, and when they ask me what the biggest stress in my life is right now, I have to say it’s the federal government,” said Bilz, a registered Democrat. “The housing is a lot cheaper in Florida, and the income tax would be less, but it’s not worth it to be in that political climate.”

About 16 percent of those surveyed said their highest source of stress was inflation, the cost of living, or the economy. Another 14 percent said finances or money were most concerning.

A plurality of voters — 33 percent — pointed to the cost of food and groceries as the biggest strain on their personal finances.

Melissa Tarjick, a part-time educator in Cheshire, said as a parent of 11, including foster and adopted children, it has become “increasingly challenging” to raise children here.

Tarjick, a 50-year-old unenrolled voter, laid blame on the Trump administration for driving up grocery and fuel costs. But she’s “always a bit nervous” that areas where Massachusetts has been “pretty responsive,” such as child care and health care, could face cuts.

“We also receive some subsidized health care, so I am quite concerned about what changes will mean for us,” she said.

State lawmakers have tried to address financial pains that voters have for years urged their elected leaders to tackle. In 2023, for example, the Massachusetts Legislature passed, and Governor Maura Healey signed, a law promising $1 billion in tax relief by increasing tax credits for parents and seniors, cutting the state’s capital gains tax, and other measures.

But only a fraction of those surveyed in the Suffolk/Globe poll — under 10 percent — said they felt the law had helped them. More than half, or 52 percent, said they couldn’t tell if it had made a difference.

“What are the taxpayers getting? More and more taxes — it’s not even worth being here anymore,” said Albert Thomas, a 59-year-old Ashland resident who has weighed leaving the state. Thomas, an unenrolled voter, said he also has not seen the benefit of state officials’ moves to temporarily slice utility rates. “We’re sold a bill of goods saying, ‘Oh, your electricity price is going to go down with all this stuff.’ Well, it ain’t going down, it’s going up faster.”

To William Haskell, a 30-year-old insurance broker, politicians “sign bills that grab headlines but don’t do anything, and it all seems like a giant waste of money.”

“I’m making enough money to where I’m kind of getting screwed across the board by taxes, and it’s squeezing me thin,” said Haskell, a Democrat who moved to Boston nearly a decade ago. He said there are other low-tax states where he would have “$1,000 to $2,000 more in my pocket each month.”

Still, Haskell said, he’s torn.

“It’s a nice place to live in at the same time,” he said, “so it’s definitely an internal mental battle.”

Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com.

A new report says an influx of new Granite Staters is coming primarily from neighboring Massachusetts, and most of them are younger, part of Gen Z, the cohort of people born roughly between 1997 and 2012.

But another report says the newbies, like already established residents here, face affordability challenges when it comes to housing and child care.

An analysis by StorageCafe of U.S. Census Bureau state-to-state migration data in 2024 shows Massachusetts sent 16,944 people to New Hampshire, outpacing other New England state — 10,977 to Rhode Island and 6,828 to Maine in 2024. StorageCafe is a nationwide online marketplace and search engine that helps users find and rent self-storage units.

Its June 9 report says the new Granite Staters skew young with Gen Z, making up 31% of the inflows, making it the leading cohort above millennials, Gen X, baby boomers, and the Silent Generation.

And they accept that affordability is relative. While there are certainly affordability challenges in New Hampshire, they believe it is less of a challenge than in Massachusetts, where the median priced single-family home is $668,000, compared to $580,000 in New Hampshire.

According to StorageCafe, New Hampshire converts 56.5% of newcomers into homeowners within year one. Maine converts 56%. Both rank among the highest first-year homeownership rates in the country. Rhode Island, more rent-first overall, still saw 41% of arrivals buy within the first year.

“These aren’t reluctant movers, they’re prepared buyers,” said Emilia Man, senior research analyst at StorageCafe. “Years of saving against Massachusetts prices means that when they land somewhere 25% to 44% cheaper, the math for buying works immediately. The first-year ownership rates in New Hampshire and Maine reflect that.”

The StorageCafe analysis notes that interstate migration nationally slowed sharply in 2024 to 2.1% of the U.S. population, compared to 2.3% in 2023 and 2.5% in 2022.

But, for the first time on record, Gen Z is America’s most mobile generation, accounting for nearly one in three interstate moves. In 2024, 2.2 million young adults moved to a different state overtaking millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) after years of millennial dominance and a near tie between the two generations in 2023, said the report.

According to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI), New Hampshire relies more on interstate movement to grow its population compared to most other states. The majority — about 60% — of the Granite State’s 1.42 million people are not native born.

About one-third (33.0%) were born elsewhere in New England, including about 25.4% who were born in Massachusetts. Approximately 19.7% were born in states outside of the New England region, while 6.8% of residents were born outside of the United States.

A May 27 brief written by Jessica Williams, a senior policy analyst at NHFPI, says New Hampshire has long relied on interstate movement to grow its population and support the workforce.

“Based on the recent data, younger working-age adults have led New Hampshire’s recent net population gains, which could help offset the state’s aging population and ongoing population decline due to more deaths than births within the state,” she said in her brief.

However, she added, “ongoing affordability challenges may hinder people’s ability to move to, and remain in, the Granite State. Housing constraints, child care access, and educational and workforce opportunities continue to influence interstate movement decisions, particularly among younger adults and families.”

Williams took a look at U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data on tax filers that move between states, counties, and other countries, along with other data from other sources, such as the University of New Hampshire survey center.

Here is some of what else she found:

• Tax filers ages 26 to 44 represented 57% of NH’s net gains from interstate movement from 2022 to 2023. However, the state experienced a net loss of nearly 1,000 tax filers under age 26, likely, said NHFPI, due to steep in-state higher education costs;
• New Hampshire gained a net 4,009 tax filers from Massachusetts, while also experiencing net gains from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and California. At the same time, New Hampshire on net lost residents to Maine, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina;
• Nearly 60% of New Hampshire residents were born outside the state, including about one-quarter who were born in Massachusetts. Only four states had a smaller share of residents born within their own state than New Hampshire;
• International migration into New Hampshire remains relatively small compared to domestic interstate movement. However, the state saw a net loss of 122 tax filers to other countries, a sharp increase in the number of Granite Staters moving abroad compared to pre-pandemic years;
• Survey data showed younger adults are drawn to New Hampshire for employment opportunities, family ties, outdoor recreation, the state’s natural environment, and a sense of safety;
• Survey data also showed many cited housing and child care costs, health care access, and career opportunities as concerns shaping whether they stay long term.

What follows are recommendations from Williams to state policymakers:

• Increase housing construction, through infrastructure investments or regulatory and zoning changes, which may help increase the availability of homes on the market and in turn bring down costs. Williams said this should include not only the availability of housing units, but the variety of housing types available as well, which could provide new homebuyers with options to meet their differing housing and financial needs;
• Support for current homeowners or renters, such as mortgage or rental assistance or property tax relief, could also help families remain in their homes and afford other essential costs;
• Make additional investment and support for assistance programs, such as the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program that provides financial support for eligible families to help afford child care. She noted this could help keep young parents in the workforce and reduce financial strain on household budgets;
• Williams noted that New Hampshire provided the smallest amount of state and local funding for public higher education of any state in the nation during fiscal year 2024. Students, therefore, may seek more affordable options in other states and not return. She suggested increased support for higher education, such as expanded scholarships for in-state students and more investments in internship-to-career pathways, which, she said, could help encourage more young adults to remain in New Hampshire upon graduation.