LINCOLN – An overloaded extension cord caused a fire that destroyed two Main Street buildings and wiped out four businesses, investigators ruled Friday.

State fire marshal investigators determined the fire, which was reported at 8:12 a.m. Thursday and raged all day, started on the first floor of Nice Twice, a second hand shop, tanning salon and UPS service station located at 27 Main St. Fire officials said the fire started in the area of the store’s sales counter, which is located toward the back of the store.

Fire investigation supervisor Sgt. Stewart Jacobs said too many things were plugged into the extension cord, which had been “balled up” under the sales counter.

Jacobs said a couple of surge protectors, which were “piggybacked” onto each other with several things plugged into them were powered by one extension cord.

Fire investigators will have the state electrical inspector examine the extension cord and other items they recovered from the scene in an effort to determine the exact ignition sequence. Jacobs said the electrical inspector will determine whether the cord overheated or arced, causing combustible materials near it to ignite. Officials believe the cord overheated.

“Extension cord wiring should never be used as a substitute for electrical circuits and service,” said Jacobs. “Extension cords are truly temporary wiring and they should not take the place of any permanent wiring that is necessary in a home or a business.”

The two-story, wooden buildings destroyed by Thursday’s fire were owned by Natalie Parent and Steve Ruhl.

Parent lost her business, the Harvest Moon, a sign, antique and craft shop she operates with her sister, Suzette Worster of Lincoln. Parent has insurance covering the building and she and her sister have a small policy for the contents of their business.

Susan Moore, the owner of Nice Twice, who rents space from Parent, also lost everything. She has no insurance.

Ruhl, the owner of Ruhl’s Photographic and Lakeside Art Gallery, rented space to Kim Bernier, who operated Gatherings For the Home, a gift shop specializing in dried flowers and home decorating accents.

Brett Leighton of Millinocket spent about three hours on his hands and knees Friday sifting through the charred rubble of Ruhl’s building looking for his gems and jewels.

Leighton, who owns the Wreath Factory in Howland and who mines gemstones and makes jewelry as a hobby, had set up a jewelry and gem display valued at $22,000 in the Gatherings For the Home shop.

Leighton, who had no insurance because it was cost prohibitive, hopes to recover some of his loss. “I’m going to go until I find everything on my list even if it is on my hands and knees,” he said while carrying another small tote bag to his pickup truck.

The Millinocket man has a list and photographs of every piece of jewelry he had displayed at the shop. He plans to be back at the fire scene today to continue his recovery efforts. He figures there is still about $15,000 worth of gems and jewelry left in the rubble.

On Friday Leighton filled three small tote bags with various mineral specimens and many pieces of jewelry, including Maine tourmaline from the Dunton Quarry in Newry. He said the tourmaline was rare because the Dunton Quarry closed a few decades ago.

Leighton was very excited when he found a large piece of watermelon tourmaline. He managed to find a $300 gem scale, some 18 karat rings, necklaces and many stones. Many of the recovered items were embedded in insulation and melted plastic. “I’ve got my work cut out for me,” he said. His winter project will be to see if he can salvage the recovered items.

In the meantime, Lincoln firefighters were called back to Main Street to put out a “hot spot” that flared up again. It was extinguished in about 10 minutes, said Fire Chief Bill Lee.

Friday’s firefighting efforts paled in comparison to Thursday’s, when between 70 and 100 firefighters from six area departments worked for about 15 hours to put out the fire.

Lee said Lincoln was fortunate to have an abundant water supply. He said firefighters used 521,000 gallons of water, which was pumped from the town’s water system. In addition, firefighters pumped water from nearby Mattanawcook Lake.

On Friday, Town Manager Glenn Aho received condolences from Gov. Angus King about the loss of businesses.

“In every situation an opportunity can be found,” said Aho. “Yesterday, we watched part of our Main Street go up in flames, but today we are starting the plan to rebuild our Main Street.”

Aho said the news King brought about what the state had to offer to the community left him speechless.

The manager spent much of the day speaking with King, Rep. Rod Carr, R-Lincoln, and Steve Levesque, the commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development about developing a plan for Lincoln’s economic future.

Aho said the town, working with state officials, could offer business owners who decide to rebuild zero percent financing on loans.

“This is the incentive to keep Main Street alive,” said Aho. “The governor said he would work with his staff and the commissioner to submit a community development block grant for downtown development in Lincoln.”

Aho and Levesque also talked about redesignating state money the town has to help with the planning process of rebuilding the Main Street.

The manager said he is optimistic about the town’s economic future.