Fire destroys Calais landmark > Boy charged in hardware store blaze

CALAIS — A 14-year-old boy has been charged with aggravated criminal mischief in connection with a fire that destroyed a historic, four-story brick building and threatened other buildings Thursday in this city’s downtown business district.

Police Chief Michael Milburn said a preliminary investigation revealed that the blaze originated in one of the apartments above Johnson’s True Value Hardware, which occupied the bottom floor of the building owned by Rocky Johnson. Ten people worked in the store.

Fire officials estimated the damage at more than $1 million. There was also some smoke damage to a Sherwin Williams paint store adjacent to the destroyed building.

Black, billowing smoke could be seen for miles. Firefighters from as far away as Machias and Eastport, and from across the border in St. Stephen and Oak Bay, New Brunswick, responded. Fire Chief Danny Carlow said he expected firefighters would be at the scene throughout Thursday night mopping up.

At around 3 p.m., Johnson said he and his employees were working in the store when a woman ran in the front door to report flames were coming from the roof at the rear of the building.

Bob Norman, who works at Fenderson’s Insurance next door, said Johnson’s employees had alerted them. “Barbie Jensen, who works at the cash register, came running out and yelled to us that there was a fire in the building and for us to get out,” he said. About eight employees inside the insurance office got out safely.

At 3:50 p.m., firefighters from the Baileyville Fire Department were at the back of the building with hoses trained on the fire. At times the thick, acrid smoke reached far above the building, blocking the sun.

Chief Milburn said an explosion occurred when flames reached ammunition in the hardware store.

At 4:10 p.m., high winds whipped the flames at the back of the building, sending them as high as 30 feet into the air.

The fire raged across the roof to the Sherwin Williams paint store. Firefighters moved to the front of Sherwin Williams, put up a ladder and began to pour water on the roof. The roof burned for a few minutes, but firefighters were able to keep flames from spreading.

Fire Chief Carlow climbed to the top of the Fenderson Building to see if the fire had spread there. Several men started to push merchandise, which had been on the sidewalk, away from the front of the hardware store.

By 4:15 p.m. the entire front of the store, which once sported a large display window, had become a fireball. Firefighters trained hoses on it, and one firefighter cut a hole in the wall with an ax. Carlow said crews were fighting to save both the insurance company and the paint store.

Stores on both sides of the street were either closed or workers were standing outside watching.

Temperatures hovered around 85 degrees and firefighters were feeling the effects of the heat. Some paused to rest on the sidewalk, while area residents ferried drinks and food donated by area restaurants and stores.

At 4:30 p.m. firefighters had water trained on an apartment complex directly across from the burning building. The heat from the fire buckled the aluminum siding on the front of the building.

At 4:50 p.m. firefighters advanced on the front of the building, and trained their hoses on the underside of the second floor. Within minutes the second, third and fourth floors collapsed.

By 7 p.m. the fire appeared to be under control.

The fire closed the town’s port of entry into Canada. Motorists were forced to go to nearby Milltown.

The blaze was one more blow to a city reeling from economic problems, including the departure of several stores from the downtown.

State Sen. Vinton Cassidy, R-Calais, said he hoped the family would consider rebuilding. “The last time I remember a fire this bad was when the old State Theater burned. I’d guess that was 40 years ago,” he said.

Johnson said it was too early to decide if the family would rebuild the store. He said he bought the building from former Calais businessman Harold Jewett in the early 1960s. At that time it contained two stores, J.C. Penney and Home Radio and Furniture Co.

He started the hardware store on one side of the building shortly after he purchased it. Around 1977, he removed the wall between the two stores to accommodate the needs of an expanding hardware store.

Retired Calais businessman and local historian Frank Fenderson said the building was built in the early 1920s by N.A. “Swede” Olsson. “This is a big loss to the city,” he said.

Mayor Eric Hinson, whose Calais Press building is across Hog Alley from Johnson’s, rushed to see if the fire threatened his building. He said he was returning from a delivery on Campobello Island when he saw smoke coming from the downtown area.

City Manager Mark Ryckman said that with the International Festival only two weeks away, the fire was a great loss to the city.

Drew Case, who now manages Calais Ace Hardware but once worked for Johnson’s, watched quietly from Main Street. All he could do was shake his head, and say, “This is a real shame.”