Firehouse blaze blamed on cigarette Sullivan facility damaged

SULLIVAN – Fire tore through the second floor of the town firehouse on Route 1 Friday evening after a volunteer firefighter dumped a smoldering cigarette in the kitchen garbage can and then left the building, Fire Chief Joseph Fountain confirmed Sunday.

Sixty firefighters with 15 trucks from seven towns converged on the structure, which “was ready to explode” from the intense heat, Fountain said.

The call came in at 7:10 p.m., he said, and took firemen an hour to bring under control. There were no injuries.

While estimates are not yet available, the damage was extensive, the chief said.

The Maine Fire Marshal’s Office determined the cause of the fire on Saturday.

“There will be absolutely no more smoking” in the firehouse, Fountain said, conceding that the firefighters had been smoking illegally in the building for some time.

In Maine, smoking is prohibited in all public buildings.

“We never had no problem and no one in town ever complained,” Fountain said.

The fire station is insured. Fountain said he expects an insurance adjuster to arrive today to survey the damage.

The department lost all of its computers, the kitchen appliances, a copier worth $6,000, a VCR and a television set, Fountain said. He hoped to retrieve some data from the hard drive of his computer, which did not melt completely, he said. The file cabinets also protected old fire records.

Fountain said no one would be disciplined in the incident. “It was an accident,” he said.

The second floor will need to be gutted and rebuilt, the chief said.

The town’s three firetrucks were saved from damage when the son-in-law of the assistant chief, who was parked across the street at the recreation center, noticed the flames. He and two other men, who were attending a meeting at the same time, ran across the road and broke windows in the facility to gain entrance.

They drove the trucks away from the structure, Fountain said.

The first floor of the firehouse had minor water damage, Fountain said.