BURLINGTON, Maine — With all of its additions and storage space, Luke Shorey’s garage was in many ways the ultimate man cave, and he took a lot of pride in it.
An automotive enthusiast, the 32-year-old pawn shop owner had about a dozen vehicles in and around it, including three motorcycles, two ATVs, a canoe, snowmobile and three antique or classic pickup trucks. The garage was also, he said, “OCD immaculate.”
Until a fire damaged the garage on Thursday night, that is. Firefighters from Burlington, Lincoln, Lowell and Passadumkeag stopped the flames and kept the building at 1487 Long Ridge Road standing, but fire, smoke and water damage left the garage’s contents “a total loss,” Burlington Fire Chief John Smith said.
“Everything in that shop was my pride and joy. It wasn’t just the way it was organized. Not many people have a living room in their garage,” Shorey said Friday, “and it was so neat that I could tell you where to find the seven-sixteenths wrench.”
The nearest structure, Shorey’s house, was about 25 feet away. Firefighters protected it with help from a wind that kept away the flames and smoke, Smith said.
It was about minus 4 degrees at the time, Shorey said.
Firefighters “did a great job,” Smith said. “The extreme cold was very hard to manage. There was a lot of ice. Things were freezing up.”
No injuries were reported. The fire appeared to be accidental, but Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office investigators might do a site inspection next week, Smith said.
Shorey said he had left the garage and gone to bed when his wife, Jen, noticed the flames as she was letting their dogs out. He and his father, John Shorey, helped the first firefighter on scene, Smith, battle the flames. Luke Shorey was in his pajamas.
Four other Burlington firefighters arrived in minutes. The other towns’ firefighters were called to the scene automatically at the first alarm per standard procedure, Smith said. A Penobscot Regional Communications Center dispatcher said the first 911 call came in at about 8:05 p.m. The fire was under control at about 10:30, Smith said.
Smith “did a great job with just him and a firetruck. I tried hard and so did they. There wasn’t a lot that I could contribute,” Shorey said. “I have my house and family, still, and them [firefighters] to be thankful to for that.”
The garage is insured, but probably not enough to pay for all the damage, Shorey said. Many items in it were rare, including a 1970 Toyota HiLux pickup truck, a 1998 Nissan Frontier show truck — a “rolling tax deduction,” Shorey said — and a 1929 Ford T-Bucket that Shorey had turned into a street hot rod.
“It was a pickup truck in its day. Now it is a piece of scrap metal,” said Shorey, who has owned Lincoln Trading and Pawn for 13 months.
Shorey estimated that the value of the garage and the items in it was close to $200,000.
“I still count my blessings about what I have. I will be getting a new garage,” Shorey added, “and I still have a boat, jeep, truck and a tractor.”