Two fires do damage in Eastport

EASTPORT — Fire struck Eastport twice Thursday night, destroying a Quoddy Village boat shop and leveling an abandoned garage across town.

The 10 p.m. fire at Passamaquoddy Yacht Co. gutted a quonset-style building and destroyed two boats, equipment and materials. Firefighters from Eastport, Perry and Pleasant Point kept the flames from spreading to nearby buildings.

Owner Randy Newcomb, Eastport’s assistant fire chief and a member of the Perry Volunteer Fire Department, was on duty as a firefighter at the U.S. Navy Communications Center in Cutler when the fire broke out.

He said that when he arrived at the scene about 30 minutes later, “it was burning from one end to the other; one of the hottest fires we’ve ever seen.”

Newcomb estimated the loss at about $100,000, but said the remaining buildings and equipment would enable him to keep the 6-year-old business going.

An investigator from the state Fire Marshal’s Office was at the scene Friday, but Newcomb said determining the cause of the fire would be difficult because of flammable materials used in the business.

The first firefighters to arrive reported hearing several small explosions inside the building.

The building had been locked up since noon Wednesday, Newcomb said.

An Eastport firefighter returning home from the boat shop fire at about 3 a.m. Friday spotted a fire at an abandoned garage at the Clark Street corner near the cemetery.

The building was destroyed but firefighters kept the fire from spreading to a vacant house a few feet away.

The cause of the fire had not been determined.