Lubec shaken by President’s Day fires

An early morning fire, whipped by gale force winds and punctuated by a large explosion, destroyed two homes and threatened others in Lubec's downtown area on President's Day. The only person home at the time the fire broke out was able to escape unharmed, and no firefighters were injured fighting the blaze. Lubec firefighters, whose main station is only a block away from the fire, assisted by firefighters from the Whiting and Campobello Island departments, as well as Downeast EMS ambulance crews, were on the scene for over six hours before the fire was out and the area was secured.

The fire in the Main Street home of Bruce and Susan Davis was reported at about 4:30 in the morning on Monday, February 19, and Lubec firefighters arrived within minutes. "It was fully involved when we got there," says Lubec Fire Chief Bobby Hood. His crews began work to knock down the fire and to protect an adjacent home, occupied by Jeanne Mills, at the corner of Main and Monument streets. Almost immediately, a large propane tank behind the Davis residence exploded, sending pieces of the tank and burning debris flying in all directions. Another propane tank on an adjacent house was disconnected and removed from the area as a precaution.

"I thought I saw a light in Bruce's house around 4:30," explains neighbor John McGonigal. "Then I saw the flames in the basement and called it in." His son Ryan went across the street to wake James Mills, who was asleep in the house next to the Davis's. Mills, a carpenter and urchin diver who lives on Campobello, had come back late from the hospital and was sleeping on the sofa with the television on. "I heard a noise and saw an orange glow outside," he says. "I called 911 and was talking to the operator at the same time as John McGonigal. I was just leaving when their son came to the house." Mills was standing on the McGonigal's porch, across the street from the house his mother rents, when the propane tank exploded. "When it blew up, I saw the flames, and the bottom of the tank flew and hit my house. These houses are 120 years old, with no fire blocking or anything. It's a wonder that more houses weren't lost.

Despite the loss of all the family's possessions, he says, "I thank God my grandfather and my mother weren't in the house when it happened."

"Our upstairs window was blown out," reports John McGonigal, whose house is across the street from the fire scene. "We had sparks on the carpet upstairs and smoke filled the whole house." The explosion blew out all the windows in the Mills residence, and the fire quickly spread to that house, separated by less than 10 feet from the Davis house. Jeanne Mills was at the hospital, visiting her gravely ill father, at the time the fire broke out. The Davis family was reportedly in Bangor for the high school basketball tournament.

The propane explosion, occurring around 5 a.m., was heard over a wide area. Dispatchers reported calls from three towns concerned about the explosion, and a number of homes near the fire scene suffered broken windows and other damage. By noon on Monday, both of the houses had been reduced to pile of unrecognizable rubble, collapsed into the basements.

The Lubec department was assisted at the scene by the Whiting Volunteer Fire Department and the Campobello Volunteer Fire Department. "This was the first fire of the year for us," says Tom Hendershot of the Campobello department. "We brought over two of our trucks, leaving one truck on the island for coverage there. I called my principal and told him he would have to cover my first-period class. He told me, `No, I won’t. We’re going to cancel school because of the weather.'"

The bone-chilling cold and high, gusting winds hampered firefighting efforts and put an additional strain on both equipment and firefighters. "At one point, two of Lubec's trucks froze up," says Hendershot. "And the relief valve on one of ours froze as well." Hoses snaked through the snow on Main Street to hydrants near the Head Start building and all the way to the bottom of the hill, at Flatiron Corner. As firefighters fought to contain the blaze, water cascaded down the street and froze, making footing treacherous.

According to relatives, the Davis family was insured, but Jeanne Mills had no coverage on the house she rented from Doug Moore.
Sharon McGonigal reports, "We have smoke damage, but it's nothing like losing your house. Everyone has been awfully nice, bringing over food. It's a big blessing, just the fact that no one was hurt through it all.

The state Fire Marshal's Office has been called in to help determine the cause of the fire.
In the wake of the fire, a potentially serious breakdown in communications came to light. When dispatchers received the calls about the fire, it took some time to get in touch with the Campobello department for mutual aid. Apparently, the dispatch center had the previous number because of a recent change to a 911 dispatch and wound up calling the Campobello department's chief, who then sent out the alarm and responded to the fire. Two of the three fire trucks from the island quickly came across the bridge to the fire scene, being waved through by the U.S. Customs at the border. The department members, all volunteers, followed in their own vehicles, responding from home to the early morning call.

Lubec selectwoman Joanne Case expressed concern that no law enforcement personnel were at the scene of the fire to control traffic. Sheriff Donnie Smith, who lives in Lubec, explains that because of recent budget cuts by the town there was no deputy on duty at that time. "When the budget was cut, the coverage of the town by the sheriff’s department was cut back. At the time the fire broke out, the state police were providing service to the area. I was not informed of the situation because dispatching of the state officers is automatically done through Orono. If I had known about the fire, I would have showed up at the scene."

Smith and Lubec selectmen met on Tuesday, February 20, to discuss the situation and see if a more effective system could be developed.

A representative of the state police said that the nearest trooper, at the time of the fire report, was in East Machias. He said that, because of road conditions, the trooper would not have arrived until the scene was controlled by fire personnel.