LINCOLN, Maine — A fire destroyed a West Broadway flower shop and threatened an adjacent pool and dance hall before 40 firefighters from six towns managed to douse it early Saturday, officials said.
No injuries were reported, and the fire does not appear to be suspicious, Lincoln Deputy Fire Chief Frank Hammond said.
Creative Blooms & More of 222 West Broadway appeared to be consumed by the fire, which a Penobscot Regional Communication Center dispatcher said was reported at about 2:48 a.m. Lincoln police said a passer-by came to the Lincoln Public Safety building and reported seeing smoke coming from the building. An officer confirmed the report a few minutes later.
The roof and several side walls of Creative Blooms were burned away. The flames never appeared to burn Shooters, a billiards hall, bar and grill, at the south end of the nearly 100-yard building at 222 West Broadway. The fire appeared to start from the West Broadway side of the building and spread southward, Hammond said.
“Firefighters slowed it down and got ahead of it to cut off its spread,” Hammond said Saturday.
With Mattawamkeag firefighters covering the rest of Lincoln, firefighters from Burlington, Howland, Lee, Lincoln and Lowell appeared to concentrate first on keeping the flames from spreading southward. They attacked the fire from the east and west sides of the building.
An interior attack team got into a side door at the east side of the building as a firefighter in a Lincoln ladder truck got the flames under control about 45 minutes after the initial call.
Shooters owner David Guthrie was at the scene, as was the owner of the flower shop, according to witnesses. Hammond said he hadn’t yet been able to acquire her name and that firefighters would be doing more interviews. Several workers at Shooters and their families who came to the building after the fire was reported declined to comment.
The building had smoke detectors, said Hammond, who did not know whether it was insured, but did not appear to have a sprinkler system.
“Early detection is key,” Hammond said, “and it’s not just detection but suppression that counts.”
Temperatures were in the low 20s and high teens, but firefighters weren’t hindered by clogs in hoses, Hammond said, unlike what happened at Lincoln’s last major winter fire, which destroyed a one-story apartment building at 121 Lee Road on Feb. 27.
“It has been a while since we had a fire of this magnitude,” Hammond said.
Firefighters notified the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office, which will be investigating, Hammond said.