County courthouse ready to reopen Office equipment, files returned after basement fire earlier this week

BANGOR – Three days after a basement fire burned telephone and computer equipment, some offices and operations in the Penobscot County Courthouse resumed business Friday. Others will have to wait until Monday.

“We’re home,” said a relieved Margaret Gardner, clerk of the Penobscot County Superior Court, as she brought back the last of the office equipment and files from the 3rd District Court in Bangor, which had served as the temporary home for the Superior Court clerks since the Tuesday night fire.

The fire started in and was contained to a basement closet that housed telephone and computer equipment and lines for data and voice communications for the Penobscot County Superior Court. A stand-alone fan left in the closet malfunctioned, starting the fire that also spread smoke to neighboring rooms and upstairs, County Administrator Bill Collins was told by a state fire investigator.

The estimated damage to the more than 100-year-old building was not available Friday, Collins said.

The county building was closed Wednesday, but some operations resumed on Thursday and Friday, with expectations that on Monday things will be back to normal.

“Come Monday morning, this building should be business as usual,” Collins said as he toured the premises.

Work crews from ServiceMaster, along with county employees and jail trusties, have been busy in recent days, removing damaged carpets, scrubbing walls and floors in an effort to remove the soot and the smell, using sealant on a wall, ceiling and around pipes to curb the smell. Over the weekend, a jail trusty from a painting program, along with participants from a first-time OUI offenders program, are expected to assist with the cleanup process.

In the jury room, which is connected to the closet where the fire began, the carpet has been removed, and an odor-curbing sealant was placed on the walls and on the ceiling, once the drop ceiling was removed.

In the wake of the fire, the court clerks, the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office and the office of the Victim Witness Advocates were relocated to the district court building. The registry of deeds and registry of probate were closed, but were reopened to a large degree on Friday with all but the mapping room closed to the public, Registrar of Deeds Susan Bulay said.

Bulay said that deeds information was still available online, so the public wasn’t completely without access to such information.

The roads and mapping offices were relocated to the upstairs meeting room of the Penobscot County commissioners, while the county’s Emergency Management Agency officials were in Bucksport on Friday for an exercise, Collins said.

Fans and open windows were used to help air out the building where some smoke lingered, as did the strong odor from the chemicals used for cleaning. Among the issues still unresolved is how to clean the sprawling painted mural that depicts the county’s “Days of Sails, Rails and Steam,” which rises with the stairwell. Collins said he is contacting an art conservationist for advice on how to safely clean the mural of any soot, although the mural appears undamaged.

Days earlier, custodians Fred Sawtelle and Raymond Gonyer were on duty when Sawtelle said he smelled something electrical.

“I thought that something’s not right,” Sawtelle said Friday afternoon. He could feel heat coming from the basement area where the fire had been and minutes later, about 7:45 p.m., the fire alarm sounded. Officials credit the Bangor Fire Department with a quick response.

On Friday, telephone service to the superior court was restored at about noontime and data capabilities for case management and e-mail were restored about 3:30 p.m., Putnam Armstrong, director of information technology for the state’s court system, said Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Gardner was returning with the last of the office equipment, including the official seal of the court. She said she is grateful for the accommodations she was afforded at district court, but that there is nothing like being back in the regular offices, even if some cleaning and airing out needs to be done.

“As far as I know, we’ll be back operational here Monday and I am so glad,” she said.