Fire damages Machias restaurant > Investigators cite possible arson

MACHIAS — Investigators searched through the charred remains of the 5 Water Street Restaurant in the Machias business district Tuesday for clues into a pre-dawn fire that officials believe may have been set.

The loss was estimated at between $100,000 and $150,000.

The Machias restaurant and night spot, owned by Lynn Sherrard, was opened about 10 years ago. Sherrard, who slept in a room on the third floor, ran from the burning building dressed only in her nightclothes.

Sherrard said she received a telephone call earlier that night from someone who threatened to burn her out. Machias Police Chief Robbie Dirsa said the restaurant closed about 1 a.m. Tuesday.

The first hint of trouble came at 4:02 a.m. when an unidentified woman called the Washington County Regional Communications Center in Machias to report what sounded like gunshots coming from the restaurant.

Machias businessman Gerald Edwards, who owns the adjacent 5-and-10 store, said he awoke around 4 a.m. to the sound of a woman, believed to be Sherrard, running and screaming on Water Street. He also reported hearing popping noises coming from the street below.

His bedroom window overlooks Water Street.

The Machias Fire Department received two more calls, both from women, moments after the first call was logged at the regional communications center. The callers reported smoke and fire coming from the building.

Dirsa said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. He said he believes that the noise reported by the first caller and by Edwards was caused by windows or other objects exploding from the intense heat.

Brian Ingalls, a dispatcher and equipment operator with the Machias Fire Department, was among the first on the scene. Volunteer units from East Machias, Machiasport and Marshfield also responded to the alarm.

Jonesboro firefighters assisted by filling air packs. Ingalls estimated that at least 50 firefighters fought the fire.

“It was fortunate we got there quickly,” said Ingalls. “Another five minutes and we would have had big problems. It would have been beyond containment.” He estimated that he was on the scene within four minutes of the first call.

Ingalls said firefighters sprayed water on the 5-and-10 and the Sow’s Ear, a gift shop, in an effort to keep the fire from spreading. Smoke damage was reported at the 5-and-10 and several gutters were melted by the heat at the Sow’s Ear.

Flames had broken through the first-floor windows of the restaurant and heat was causing the second-floor windows to pop as the first firefighting crews arrived. Preliminary inspection points to the fire starting in the kitchen area, authorities said.

When asked what woke her up, Sherrard said she heard a crash that sounded like an object being thrown through a first-floor window. She said she started to leave the building, but returned for her purse. Smoke and flames prevented her from escaping with anything else, she said.

It took crews until 9:30 a.m. to bring the fire under control, and several units remained on the scene until noon. Access to the roof was gained by a bucket truck provided by C.F.G. and Electric of Machias. Heavy smoke concealed firefighters as they cut their way into the roof with chain saws.

Dirsa spent part of Tuesday interviewing Sherrard and several of the restaurant’s employees. John Morse, an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, arrived at the scene in midafternoon. A second investigator was expected to arrive later in the day.