PORTLAND, Maine — Neighbors of the 20-24 Noyes St. building where six people died in a fire said Friday morning that the charred structure had haunted the neighborhood too long, and it was cathartic to see it finally demolished.
The razing of the building came as a surprise to nearby residents, many of whom only learned it was happening when they heard the heavy machinery begin tearing down walls just after 7 a.m.
“I’m glad to see it come down,” said Carol Schiller, president of the area’s University Neighborhood Organization. “No one in the neighborhood I know of knew it was coming down today.
“It was a daily reminder that six people senselessly died in that fire,” she continued. “It was a horrible, helpless feeling seeing that fire and knowing people were dying inside.”
The Nov. 1 blaze at the property was recorded as Maine’s deadliest in four decades, claiming the lives of tenants David Bragdon Jr., 27; Ashley Thomas, 29; and Nicole Finlay, 26; as well as apartment visitors Christopher Conlee, 25, of Portland; Rockland resident Steven Summers, 29; and Topsham resident Maelisha Jackson, 26.
Since the fire, the building’s sordid history — including 16 complaints, some about buildups of combustibles, since 2003 — has come under heavy public scrutiny, and the city has assembled a task force to review all fire and codes inspection procedures.
The landlord of the Noyes Street building, Gregory Nisbet, has been served three wrongful death lawsuits by families of fire victims, alleging he is liable because of disabled smoke alarms and blocked exits found at the site.
Portland Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria has told reporters the state fire marshal’s office has determined the cause of the fire was accidental, from the discarding of cigarettes into an insecure receptacle on the building’s porch. But the chief said the investigators’ report will be reviewed by the district attorney’s office to see if any criminal charges are warranted, in part because of the disabled smoke alarms and blocked exits.
On Friday, crews from Benjamin Construction Inc. tore down the structure that has been the subject of so much controversy in the city.
One of the individuals from the construction crew, Bob Turnbull, said he believed Nisbet plans to rebuild at the site, but city spokeswoman Jessica Grondin later said the landlord does not yet have a permit to do so.
“I knew they weren’t going to salvage the building,” said Matthew Gamache, a Friday morning onlooker who lives in nearby 79 Dartmouth St. “It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes to rebuild or what’s going to be there in the meantime.”
Nate Cresswell moved into a house two doors away from the site just a few months before the fire happened, and said he was out of town the morning of the blaze. But when he returned that weekend, he said he was shocked by what had transpired.
“Obviously, we were really devastated by what happened,” he said, standing on the sidewalk across the street from the demolition Friday. “We’d always walk by and see [the 20-24 Noyes St. tenants] sitting on their porch and having fun.
“Since then, though, you’d smell [the remains of the fire] all the time and see it all the time. It was a daily reminder that people died here. I think it’s good for the neighborhood and hopefully good for the families to see it torn down,” he continued. “Especially during the months after the fire, people would just walk around the block and stare at it. I think we need to be able to move on. I’m happy to see it come down.”
