Fire hits Dexter building Redemption center, bike shop displaced

DEXTER – The charred remnants of two cash-register drawers were the only contents salvaged Monday from a bicycle shop and redemption center destroyed by fire.

The noontime fire raced through the Dexter Redemption Center and Bike Tech on Church Street, located a few feet from the Dexter Fire Station.

Dexter Fire Chief Melvin Wyman said Monday that the fire began midway inside the large building owned by Fred Banks of Dexter and was well under way when firefighters arrived at the fire station.

The fire was so intense that a local firefighter, Rick Fanjoy, became ill from exhaustion and was taken by ambulance to Mayo Regional Hospital, according to Wyman.

Fanjoy was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where he was listed in serious condition Monday night.

Stewart Jacobs, an investigator with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, was nearby when the fire was reported and arrived soon after to begin an investigation into its cause.

Bernard “Buzz” Harding, his wife, Judy, and their daughter Mindy, who own and operate the two businesses located side-by-side in the building, were at work inside when the fire erupted, according to Buzz Harding.

They all managed to escape unharmed. The trio ran to the Dexter Farm and Garden Center, located next door, and reported the fire.

Wyman said the big, yellow building was one of the town’s older buildings and once served as a storage facility for potatoes. He said the building had a metal roof, false walls and had been built over several times, making it difficult to control the fire.

The fire chief said smoke was pouring out of the building when he arrived at the fire station a few minutes after the fire was reported.

“I knew then that it was fully involved,” he said.

Mutual aid was provided at the scene by firefighters from Corinna, Garland, Corinth and Sangerville.

Harding said the family lost all of the store furnishings and equipment housed in the building.

Harding didn’t answer when asked whether the building was insured.

Shortly after the fire, the

business owner was quickly making plans to reopen the redemption center in another location. He said that in about four to five days, the business would reopen in a vacant former auto sales building on Church Street.