The Maine fire marshal’s office has classified the fire that burned a portion of the 40-unit Bluebird Motel in Machias on the night of Dec. 24 as being of undetermined origin because of the extent of the destruction.
The owner of the motel, John Simard of Mechanic Falls, is planning to rebuild the front building that was significantly damaged. That building, which houses 20 units, will first need to be demolished, with six units totalled and the remaining suffering smoke damage and not having access to any electricity since the Christmas Eve blaze.
The fire began in one unit that was located near the office building, which was not damaged. Because there were no fire breaks in the attic space, the blaze quickly spread to the other units in the front building. Since the fire was so intense, firefighters couldn’t divide the building in half to stop the fire’s spread. As a last-ditch measure, an excavator from Old School Construction did a trench cut to split the building.
The motel also has 20 units in two buildings behind the one where the fire occurred. Those buildings were not affected, but the water line to them, which runs under the front building, was damaged.
Until the insurance process is completed, the motel has not been booking rooms and has offered free cancellations for reservations made before the fire. The management is hoping that bookings for the two rear buildings can resume in February.
No demolition of the front building or new construction will begin until the insurance adjustment process is finished, according to the motel management. It added that a new water line may need to be installed to supply the back buildings.
In a Facebook post, the management said, “The motel’s management and owner continue to work with our insurance company to move forward with restoring water to our two back buildings, the demolition of our front building and then the rebuilding process. Since this is a commercial entity, there are more steps involved than if it was a personal home that had been damaged by fire. Our guest’s patience is very much appreciated, as we navigate this process!”
