Fire destroys bar, leaves eight families displaced

A faulty electrical outlet in a popular bar in Calais caused a fire the night of Sunday, May 1, that displaced eight families who lived upstairs in the four-story downtown building. The restaurant and night club on the first floor, The Roost, which was where the fire started, suffered a significant amount of damage. All of the building's tenants were safely evacuated, and the bar was not open that evening.
  According to Calais Fire Chief Ken Clark, the call came in at 8:50 p.m. for a structure fire at 445 Main St. Firefighters found heavy smoke and fire coming out from the bar, and because of the Calais department's shortage of firefighters, mutual aid was called in from the St. Stephen, Baileyville, Alexander, Princeton and Charlotte departments. Clark says they were able to get the blaze quickly knocked down, in about a half an hour. Also assisting with traffic control and other duties at the scene were officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol, Calais and Baileyville police departments and the Maine State Police.
  Calais police contacted the Red Cross to assist the tenants with housing, and that evening the families were placed at the Calais Motor Inn and the International Motel, although Clark notes that the motels were filled with contractors who are working during the annual maintenance shutdown at the Woodland Pulp mill.
  Clark says that along with the damage to the first-floor business, the upstairs apartments suffered smoke damage. The cause of the fire, which was an electrical connection under the bar, was determined by investigators with the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Rebuilding planned
  Building owner Carl Bailey says that tenants can move back in once the soot is cleaned from the building. That will depend on how soon the insurance company gives the go ahead to hire professional cleaners.
  He does not know the exact number of tenants but confirms there are eight families including two with young children, and they and their pets all got out safely. "I've been in touch with the Red Cross every single day," he says. "Everybody does have a shelter, but we are working diligently to get them back into their homes."
  Bailey praises the Red Cross along with the firefighters from several communities on both sides of the border for their responses to this fire.
  He and his wife Angela were home watching a movie when they got a text from their daughter in law, who had gotten a text from a friend stating that the business was burning. The Baileys arrived to find the firefighters already at work. "They are the ones that knocked the fire down so quickly and kept it contained," Bailey says, but he adds that the old fashioned tin ceiling in the bar and restaurant helped stop the fire from spreading further. The rest of the building suffered smoke damage. "But as you know, soot is poisonous, and there are little kids in some of these apartments so we can't let them move back in until the soot is cleaned," he says.
  He confirms that three fire origin experts agree that this blaze started from an electrical outlet under the bar that had nothing plugged into it. The insurance company ruled it a "no fault" fire.
  The Baileys opened The Roost in the former Schooner Pub building on October 1. Although the fire did little structural damage to most of the building, it completely destroyed the bar and restaurant. "We have to pull it all out, right down to the brick, but we are going to rebuild. My wife Angela and I are planning that as we speak, so we are just waiting on the insurance company to say 'go' right now," he says.