BANGOR, Maine — A bathroom exhaust fan that caught fire Sunday afternoon at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft on Stillwater Avenue caused the lone sprinkler in the room to go off and partially flood the store, Bangor Fire Department Assistant Chief Darrel Cyr said.
“There was a lot of water,” the assistant chief said. “That is where all the damage is. Probably a quarter of the store had a half-inch of water” by the time the water to the bathroom was turned off.
“Some of the product did come in contact with the water,” Cyr said, adding that other items may have smoke damage.
The fire was reported at 12:55 p.m. and the store, located at 710 Stillwater Ave, was evacuated, Cyr said. The store remained closed at 4 p.m. Sunday. No injuries were reported.
The bathroom is located in the back left corner of the store.
“The fan caught fire and some of the fire dropped to the floor” onto stored bathroom supplies, which started to burn, Cyr said. “The fire was big enough to activate the sprinkler system.”
Firefighters were at the scene for about 1½ hours and tore into the bathroom ceiling to ensure the fire didn’t spread into the roof.
All you JoAnn fans should probably keep your eye on Mardens in the next week or so – I have a feeling they are going to have a pretty good selection of stained fabric available.
for once, i like your post.
Go Mardens!
Thanks Bangor Fire for the extra effort at cleaning up a lot of the water!!
They responded quickly and did an awesome job! We are really appreciative!
There was no stained fabric……maybe a bit of smell but thats an easy fix to a quick wash! ……It happened in the bathrm not on the sales floor…….water on the floor yes
No amount of washes, quick or otherwise, could get the smell out of our clothes after a fire. Maybe there are detergents available now that work, though.
What did you for detergent? Did you try fabreeze?
We used all the usuals available in ’59, ’76, and ’85 including dry cleaning and, in desperation, even gasoline. Thankfully, haven’t had reason to deal with the problem since.
where theres smoke theres fire!
a Bathroom exhaust fan? Jeesh, how bad did that person have to go?
Maybe JoAnns will finally fix their bathroom. It has been out of order a lot the last year.
Any idea when they will reopen?? I have a project I really want to get started!!!!
I like JoAnn’s. I hope they get back up and running quickly. It’s a blessing for them that this did not happen until after the holidays. They were really busy at that time and having to close even for a few days could have been disastrous for them. Small miracles are there if you look for them…