HOULTON, Maine — A fire earlier this week at the Houlton Salvation Army headquarters caused minor damage to the sanctuary, but it destroyed many of the toys the organization had been collecting to give away to area children this holiday season.
Lt. Dominic Nicoll, who runs the Houlton branch of the Salvation Army with his wife, Elizabeth, said a slight smell of smoke at about 7:30 a.m. Monday awoke the couple in their apartment located in the back of the 12 Court St. headquarters building.
Nicoll said he first checked the apartment and then made his way into the sanctuary area of the building, where he discovered that a fire had broken out on a table used to display a nativity scene illuminated with candles. The candles left unattended overnight are believed to have caused the fire, he said.
The sanctuary had extensive smoke damage, but the flames did not spread beyond the table located in front of the staging area where the Christmas toys are kept.
“For it not to have caught the curtains and the whole room on fire is simply amazing,” Nicoll said. “I walked into the room, and it was just a wall of smoke.”
He said he used a small fire extinguisher to douse the few burning embers that were left, but most of the fire had already burned itself out.
Because of the heavy smell of smoke, the Salvation Army closed its doors Monday and set up a temporary place at the Courtyard Cafe, located close by. Officials were able to return to the building on Tuesday for business as usual.
Nicoll said while the event was unfortunate, it revealed to him a higher power was at work.
“Absolutely this was God at work,” he said. “The curtains were 2 feet away but didn’t catch fire. It could have been a very different story for my wife, daughter and myself. We are very, very fortunate.”
Unfortunately, most of the Christmas gifts, including many toys that were not yet wrapped, were ruined by smoke, Nicoll said. On the positive side, many of the gifts the Salvation Army receives for Christmas had not yet been dropped off.
“We didn’t lose everything with the gifts as some are salvageable, but many are not,” he said. “Most of the toys we get tend to come in the last few weeks, so starting now until Christmas.”
To assist the Salvation Army in replenishing the gifts it lost, call 532-2322 or email Dominic.Nicoll@use.salvationarmy.org.