HOULTON, Maine — Fire investigators say they will never likely know what started a fire in Houlton’s Industrial Park last week.
Houlton Fire Chief Milton Cone said two fire marshals spent two days investigating the blaze that destroyed two structures at the industrial park — at 77 and 79 Aviation Drive — which served as the business location for Jackett Enterprises, a commercial line striping company owned by Blaine Jackett of Houlton.
The fire was reported at 6:15 p.m. April 30 by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol pilot for a report of smoke coming out of the hangar at the Houlton International Airport. The pilot spotted the smoke from the air. That report was soon altered to a report of a structure fire
The individual who reported the fire did go over to the buildings to see if anyone was still inside, Cone said.
The chief added he called the State Fire Marshal’s Office to investigate the cause of the blaze, and two agents — Ed Archer and Scott Richardson — spent two days examining the charred wreckage. As of Tuesday afternoon, no cause for the fire had been determined, according to Tim Lowell of the Fire Marshal’s Office. The massive damage prevented investigators from finding an ignition source.
Because of the large number of vehicles on the property, and the fact that there were some storage drums of oil located on the premises, Cone said he contacted the Department of Environmental Protection in case there was any issue with groundwater contamination.
“Lee Thomas with DEP came down and inspected the site and did not feel that it was a problem at this point,” Cone said.
Jackett Enterprises owner Blaine Jackett put the following statement on his Facebook page.
“Sorry to say there was no property equipment salvaged or taken out of either building during the fire. Some vehicles were pulled away from (the) building before the fire got too close. All property maintenance equipment, including all striping equipment was a total loss from the fire. We are in the process of (locating) replacement equipment to be able to continue on with our current contracts in place. We are not out of business, just suffering a slight hiccup.”
A massive plume of thick, black smoke could be spotted from as far away as Littleton, according to eyewitnesses on the scene who had seen the smoke and drove to the airport to investigate. At the scene, a number of small explosions could be heard.
Firefighters initially had some concerns when they first arrived on the scene.
“Very shortly after we arrived, I looked up and saw seven state trooper vehicles going by, which led me to ask HPD (Houlton Police Department) if something else was going on that we needed to be aware of,” Cone said.
Actually, the Maine State Police was simply conducting an exercise at the municipal shooting range at the time of the fire.
“We had a number of things to contend with,” Cone said. “Obviously, there were the vehicles that were stored outside that had fuel in them that were involved in flames and their tires exploding. And there were some 55-gallon drums of waste oil stored inside the building. There were also some propane cylinders inside, as well as some aerosol cans, so there was lots of things going on.”
Cone said later in the evening, after the building had collapsed, the intense heat caused a number of fireballs that shot 100-feet into the air.
Another concern was the electrical power lines located in front of the building. Houlton Water Company shut off all power to the area, including the airport, for a short period of time before certain lines could be isolated to bring power back up.
Firefighters did manage to save some of the vehicles located outside the property by towing them away from the burning buildings.
The building once served as fire station for the air base during World War II, when the area served as a base for prisoners of war.
According to Houlton property tax records, the two parcels (77 and 79 Aviation Drive), were valued at a combined $19,000 including the 1.38 acres of land.
Firefighters spent about three hours on site trying to contain the blaze. The building was insured.
