Fire destroys Fairfield Irving truck stop

FAIRFIELD – An Irving Big Stop store and restaurant on U.S. 201 was destroyed by fire Wednesday.

There were no reports of injuries in the fire, which began shortly after 2 p.m., but the highway was shut down for hours.

“It was in the roof, it got into the ceiling, we noticed it coming out a back vent,” Fairfield Fire Chief Duane Bickford said at the scene. “At this point, we’re not sure whether it started in a back bathroom or if there was a drop fire from the ceiling. We have to do a lot more investigating.”

The Morning Sentinel newspaper reported that Fairfield firefighters first were called to the truck stop for what seemed initially to be a small, smoky fire in the shower area of the truckers section of the Big Stop. Crews reported not seeing any flames and felt the fire had been contained, the newspaper reported.

But 20 minutes later the fire appeared to break out. Firefighters were evacuated from the building, and reinforcements from surrounding towns were called in.

“The call came in as a fire toward one of the rear bathrooms, that’s all I know at the moment,” said Fairfield Fire Capt. Jim Lane, the department’s fire investigator. “It’s gone. It’s totally gone. They can’t go back into business at all right now, that’s totally out.”

Store manager Bambi Hartt said she and other Irving Oil employees were attending a meeting when they smelled smoke.

“We had a meeting in our banquet room,” Hartt said. “We don’t have any idea what happened.”

Firefighting crews trained hoses on the north side of the building to keep the fire from reaching nearby diesel tanks. Windows shattered, propane tanks exploded, and the roof collapsed in flames.

“I was in the store, and I smelled smoke in the back, and the other fellow went and smelled it, and he saw smoke come out of the bathroom, and he called the Fire Department,” Big Stop employee Don Pelletier said.

“It was in one of the showers, in the back shower.”

The truck stop had been remodeled within the last six months, according to the Morning Sentinel.