PITTSFIELD – A local landmark on South Main Street was destroyed Friday when a spark from a welding operation ignited the building.

All that remained of the attached Pittsfield Bowling Center and Laundromat on Friday afternoon were a few cinder blocks, charred wood and a singed storage barn.

“Everything I worked for is gone,” said a dazed Sessa Menendez, who owned the facility. The 63-year-old man said he would like to rebuild, but was not sure Friday if he would. “I’ve got to see what the insurance will pay on it,” he said.

Six firefighters on the scene were taken to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield where they were treated for smoke inhalation and inhalation of noxious fumes. They reportedly were in good condition late Friday afternoon.

Dean Billings, assistant Pittsfield fire chief, confirmed Friday that the fire started in the 16-lane candlepin bowling alley. He said some welding was being done on pin sweepers when a spark apparently ignited the floor. “By the looks of it, it started and went down under the bowling alley then into the walls and into the ceiling,” Billings said. “We feel it got a good start.”

Some explosions occurred while firefighters were battling the blaze. Billings said some 55-gallon drums of lacquer, which was used to coat the bowling lanes, apparently ignited and exploded inside the approximately 100-foot by 60-foot building.

“It was very difficult to fight,” Billings said of the fire, because it had such a head start.

Menendez, who has owned and operated the facility since July 1973, said he had enlisted the aid of a Waterville friend to weld parts onto the pin sweepers to make them stronger. Work on about half of the pin sweepers was completed last week and the friend had just taken a break Friday from work on the other pin sweepers when the fire erupted shortly after 10 a.m.

“A spark must have gone under there somehow,” Menendez said as friends comforted him.

Justin Wells, a part-time employee who was making some repairs elsewhere in the building, noticed smoke coming from under the floor and alerted Menendez. Believing that the fire was a small one, the pair tried to douse it with fire extinguishers and buckets of water. But the fire quickly spread as Menendez called the fire department.

“The thing is the fire was underneath the lanes so we couldn’t get to it with a fire extinguisher,” Wells said.

Menendez said he rushed into the Laundromat and advised the people inside to quickly leave and to move their vehicles.

“I can’t believe that went so fast,” Menendez said of the building’s destruction. “If you want a little humor, I just paid my taxes,” he said. His business, he said, catered to many leagues representing everyone from senior citizens to students. The nearest remaining candlepin facilities are in Augusta and Dover-Foxcroft.

Roberta Nichols, an 18-year employee of the bowling alley, couldn’t believe the devastation. She was to have worked Friday when the facility opened at 1 p.m. She said she and two others, in addition to Menendez and his wife, Marie, are now unemployed.

Menendez, whose mobile home located several yards from the bowling alley remained unscathed, estimated that it would cost at least $1.5 million to replace the two businesses. He said he had about $45,000 worth of equipment inside the Laundromat.

Assisting local firefighters at the scene were firefighters from Newport, Hartland, St. Albans, Burnham, Waterville and Detroit. Clinton firefighters remained on standby at the Pittsfield station.