Customers evacuated at Irving station
Boothbay Harbor Fire Department showed up to Irving gas station after smoke was reported from inside the building on August 13. RYAN LEIGHTON/Boothbay Register
Boothbay firefighters inspect the malfunctioning air conditioner behind the gas station. RYAN LEIGHTON/ Boothbay Register
Boothbay Harbor Fire Department showed up to Irving gas station after smoke was reported from inside the building on August 13. RYAN LEIGHTON/Boothbay Register
Boothbay firefighters inspect the malfunctioning air conditioner behind the gas station. RYAN LEIGHTON/ Boothbay Register
Smoke forced customers and employees to evacuate the Irving gas station in Boothbay Harbor at 10:35 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
Employees reported seeing smoke pouring into the building out of an air vent from behind the gas station’s sandwich counter.
“We felt a rumble on the outside of the wall,” said Jeanette Cummings, an Irving employee. “Next thing we knew you could smell rubber burning, and then the smoke was coming through the vent.”
Boothbay Harbor fire trucks were dispatched to the scene with the Boothbay Harbor Police and Lincoln Country Sheriff's Office.
Boothbay Harbor Fire Chief Nick Upham shut down the industrial air conditioner behind the building and sent in a crew with a thermal imaging camera.
“If I had to guess, I would say there is a belt in there that spins fans. Maybe a bearing seized up and smoked up by the smell of it inside, but until the air conditioning people come, I'm not sure what it's going to be,” Upham said.
Irving had reopened to the public as of 12:10 p.m., Tuesday.
Event Date
Address
99 Townsend Avenue
Boothbay Harbor , ME 04538
United States
