Blaze ends Wis. family’s vacation Couple, two children renting Bar Harbor cabin safe, but belongings lost

BAR HARBOR – A Wisconsin family’s vacation in Maine turned into a nightmare Friday when the cabin they were renting at Hinckleys Dreamwood Cottages on Route 3 was destroyed in a fire.

The family lost all of their belongings, according to a Red Cross disaster relief worker.

The owner of the cottage would not provide any information on the 9 p.m. blaze and the weekend crew at the Bar Harbor Fire Department declined to discuss the fire, saying that only Fire Chief David Rand was authorized to provide public information on the blaze.

Attempts to reach Rand on Sunday through the Bar Harbor Police Department were unsuccessful.

“I don’t have any comment on that, thank you,” Hinckleys owner Jonathan Stewart said Sunday of the fire, before hanging up on a reporter.

Stewart and his wife, Vangi, operate 29 seasonal cottages, from one to four bedrooms in size, on 6.5 acres about three miles from downtown Bar Harbor. None of the cottages is the same, according to the couple’s Web site. Some offer fireplaces and many are equipped with kitchens. All are carpeted.

According to Southwest Harbor firefighter Rob Gaiser, who provided relief to the Wisconsin family as an American Red Cross disaster relief volunteer, the couple and their two children were trying to get some money on Saturday to make the return trip home.

“It’s a waiting game for them,” Gaiser said.

The victims’ names were not available. Gaiser said the Stewarts paid to put the family up at another lodging site, but that information also was not available.

“They lost everything they brought with them,” Gaiser said Saturday. Even their vehicle was damaged by the fire, he said.

The American Red Cross bought new clothing for the family Friday night and the Southwest Harbor Fire Association gave the victims $100 for food. Airport and Harbor Taxi of Trenton gave the family a ride to and from Wal-Mart in Ellsworth to get clothing, Gaiser said.

“At this point in time, we’ve done everything we could do for them,” Gasier said.

He said the cottage that the family rented was “totaled” in the fire. He was reluctant to talk about the fire except as it related to his Red Cross mission.