BRIDGEWATER, Maine — Bradbury Farms’ historic potato house in Bridgewater was lost to a fire Friday night.
Fire departments from six communities arrived around 10 p.m. Friday and spent the next six hours trying to control the fire at Bradbury Farms’ potato storage facility, said Matthew Powers, information officer with the Bridgewater Fire Department.
It is not clear what started the fire, Powers said in a press release. The potato house is located off of U.S. Route 1 behind the Bradbury Farms storefront.
“In the end, the structure was a complete loss, and there is no known cause for the start of the fire,” Powers said, adding that the building was insured.
The difficult fire in cold temperatures was contained with the help of multiple fire departments and police agencies, including the fire department from Centreville, New Brunswick. Departments from Littleton and Easton assisted with additional tankers of water.
Due to smoke and drifting embers, the department evacuated three families for the night.
The town opened its civic building as an emergency shelter until the families made arrangements at the Bear Paw Inn in Mars Hill. Family members of firefighters helped prepare food for the team of responders and the owner of the Mars Hill IGA also brought sandwiches and coffee early in the morning hours, Powers said.
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- A barrel covered in ice stands in the remains of the Bradbury Farms potato house facility in Bridgewater following a fire early Saturday morning, Feb. 2, that leveled the historic structure. (Anthony Brino)
