A fire for the ages

By KEVIN BURNHAM
Editor 
 

Indelible images.

 Watching Washburn & Doughty burn to the pilings on Friday, July 11 brought back memories – albeit much happier ones -- of another shipyard event in the same general area in East Boothbay just over four decades ago – the launching of the replica of the famous schooner, America, at Goudy & Stevens in May 1967. Hundreds gathered along the shoreline to watch the painted and polished 130-foot ship slide down the ways.

 On Friday, hundreds of people gathered there again but watched helplessly as the huge light blue, wood-frame building turn to fire red, followed by charcoal black and finally, a gigantic pile of brown rusted steel. And that funnel of black smoke reaching high into the sky for hours – which was seen clearly from Augusta, Portland, Monhegan and perhaps further – will be forever etched in everyone’s memories.

 A spark from a metal cutting torch “during the manufacturing process,” according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office on Monday, started Friday’s fire. The shipyard crew had tried to extinguish the fire inside the 50,000 square foot building with fire extinguishers and by shooting water from the deck of the landing craft tied up alongside the pier which held up the building. However, the fire flared up again and the first page for the fire department went out at 9:23 a.m. The building was evacuated and someone had grabbed the time cards on the way out.

 A roll call was done using the names on the time cards to assure all had gotten out – all were accounted for. At 9:24, the call for mutual aid went out. The first fire engine arrived at 9:28. And by 9:31, fire engines from local departments began arriving at the scene. Overall, fire companies from three counties – Lincoln, Knox and Sagadahoc – responded. The only thing drowning out the sound of the burning wood and creaking metal was the constant whirring of sirens. All told, 28 agencies (firefighters, EMS and law enforcement) and 150 people responded to one of the worst fires in the Boothbay region in recent memory. Many referred back to the Boothbay Harbor freezer fire in March 1978.

 Incredibly, no one was hurt in the fire. East Boothbay Fire Chief Jack Barry suffered heat exhaustion but was treated at the scene.

 As firefighters from East Boothbay and Boothbay began fighting the fire – both in front of the building and from the low, flat area next to the river near the former Boothbay Marine on the east side of the building – a wall fell on the hydrant hook-up in front of the building and the departments lost all water pressure and the building’s sprinkler system stopped. As Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Tim Pellerin said, “It was then time for Plan B.” Meanwhile, firefighters from Boothbay Harbor were in Shipbuilders Park scrambling to get saltwater from the river and ready to protect Hodgdon Yachts on the other side of the park. Many of the approximately 100 employees from Washburn & Doughty, as well as Hodgdon Yachts employees, filled the park, watching the horrifying scene, as dozens of onlookers arrived at the neighboring piers at Lobsterman’s Wharf, Ocean Point Marina, the bridge and anywhere they could watch. Out on Route 96, firefighters, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies and, near the Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor town line, Boothbay Harbor Police Department officers, were handling traffic. Eventually, Route 96 was shut down, allowing only residents and essential vehicles to proceed into the village.

 “Bruce Doughty [co-owner of the shipyard] initially wanted us to go into the building,” said Boothbay Fire Chief Dick Spofford. “He was quite upset that I didn’t send anyone in, but after he learned that the fire had spread up the wall, he calmed down.

 “A Wiscasset firefighter who works at Washburn told us the best vantage point was to fight the fire from that flat area,” said Spofford. “We put a couple of trucks there. Later on, as the fire got bigger and oxygen tanks started exploding, a blast of fire went over the heads of firefighters John Long and Timber Brown. The hose cover on one of the trucks caught fire, so John turned his hose around and put out that fire. Eventually, it got to the point that they couldn’t see and it was too hot there anyway, so we moved them out of there.” Eventually, the boat house on the property burned flat, as did a couple of nearby sheds. The heat was so intense that it melted the bumper and lights on a worker’s pickup truck parked in the employee parking lot. The wind conditions were in the firefighters’ favor as light winds to the east and southeast kept the fire contained mostly to the building.

 The fire began at the furthest end of the building next to the river. East Boothbay lobsterman Mike Lewis saw me shooting photos from a float at Ocean Point Marina after I had arrived at approximately 9:38. He brought his boat, Victoria’s Secret, over and I hopped aboard. He brought me to the source of the fire, which had now spread up to the roof of the building, where one of two tugboats under construction was housed. Within minutes, he brought me back to the float. With fire now engulfing about a third of the building, shipyard workers yelled to Lewis, asking him to bring his boat over so he could tow the Linda Moran away from the pier to protect it from being damaged by the fire. Lewis and another lobster boat fisherman helped move the tugboat far enough away from the pier as the fire raged on.

 “Plan B,” which was to protect the neighboring houses and residents, was now in effect about an hour after the fire began. With no water pressure and water being used from tank trucks parked on School Street, it was time to evacuate the neighboring houses on School and Church streets. According to Lincoln County Emergency Management, approximately 200 people were evacuated by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the Red Cross, the Boothbay Region Missfires and others. Red Cross shelters were set up at Boothbay Region Elementary School, where volunteers provided water and food donated by Hannaford and St. Andrews Village.

 As the fire roared, another house at Green Landing Road owned by Nell Tharpe caught fire. As an engine from the Newcastle Fire Department arrived, it was quickly sent to the house where firefighters beat down the small fire.

 The big lettering, “Washburn & Doughty,” on the side of the building clung eerily to the rafters even after the fire was moving fast toward the office area of the building and parking lot. Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard was keeping mariners at a safe distance from the burning building.

 As the fire began consuming the last third of the building, between 10:30 and 11, several tanks of propane and acetylene exploded. Many of the onlookers looked for fireballs overhead after the explosions occurred. Chief Spofford said he ordered that the paint storage area not be hosed down, to let it burn because of the possible toxic runoff in the water.

 Firefighters reloaded with water from the hydrants on Park Street in Boothbay Harbor and Adams Pond, and they continued to pump sea water on the fire. Television news crews started arriving and photos were sent around the state by this newspaper and citizens.

 Firefighters finally had the fire under control just after 1 p.m. but several departments continued spraying water to put out any hot spots which flared up. Evacuees returned to their homes and Department of Environmental Protection officials arrived to begin testing for contamination of the water and grounds. State Fire Marshal’s office officials arrived and town and state officials, including local state representative Bruce MacDonald, began meeting in Hodgdon Yachts’ office to begin the process of helping Washburn & Doughty recover. A special Boothbay selectmen’s meeting was held at 4 p.m. with Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner John Richardson and the Department of Labor’s Rapid Response Team to begin talking about getting the shipyard some state and federal financial assistance. Tim Hodgdon of Hodgdon Yachts immediately offered Washburn & Doughty the use of his building on Murray Hill Road in East Boothbay and the town selectmen voted Friday to allow the shipyard to use Shipbuilders Park for temporary offices offered by Cianbro and future construction until a new facility is constructed.

 Governor John Baldacci, in a statement issued shortly after noon on Friday, said “The state stands ready to provide whatever support is needed to fight this fire, and to help Washburn & Doughty and the community recover.” Baldacci also announced he would visit the shipyard on Tuesday, July 15.


 “The mutual aid was fantastic. There are so many people to thank. I want to especially thank the Missfires, who were there all day providing food and water. The first responders from Southport, Boothbay Harbor and Edgecomb were just great,” said Spofford.

 “We could’ve had a situation where the whole area could’ve gone up in flames,” said Pellerin, who said this is the second worst fire – after the Worumba Mill fire in Lisbon in July 1987 -- he’s battled in his 30 years of fighting fires. “Those soldiers took the heat until we had the fire under control. The taxpayers of these towns who responded should have nothing but highest regard for their departments when it comes time to fund these fire departments. It was a valiant effort by everyone.

 “Chief Spofford, the firefighters, law enforcement, EMS and others worked very well together,” said Pellerin.

 “Those guys [firefighters] did a helluva job,” said Bob MacMillan on Sunday. MacMillan’s residence is directly across School Street from the employees’ parking lot. “They kept the fire from perhaps taking down the entire peninsula.”

 Several firefighters spent the night at the scene, spraying water on the still hot wood and metal. Spofford said a couple of out of town departments showed up on Saturday to help coil up the hoses and help with the clean-up. Firefighters remained on the scene through Tuesday.