Fire flattens Benn’s Auto Sales

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
MASSIVE FIRE — A member of the Hodgdon Volunteer Fire Department prepares to put water on the fire at Benn’s Auto Sales on the Calais Road Friday morning. The business was a total loss.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — Sparks created from working on a vehicle were cited as the cause of a massive fire at Benn’s Auto Sales on the Calais Road Friday morning.
    According to Hodgdon Assistant Fire Chief Ricky Tidd, fire broke out shortly before 9:30 a.m. when sparks ignited combustible materials in the workshop, which is owned by John Benn.
    “They (workers) tried to put out the fire with extinguishers, but that just pushed the flames up into the walls,” Tidd said. “Once it got there, it spread pretty quickly.”
    Inside the mostly wooden structure with a metal roof were numerous combustible items that helped fuel the fire.
    The Calais Road was closed to traffic for several hours as about 40 firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading to an adjacent house. Crews from Houlton and Linneus assisted with the fire. Thick black smoke and massive fire balls could be seen for miles away, with some reporting seeing the fire on Interstate 95.
    “There were numerous 55-gallon drums filled with motor oil and once those heated up, they blew up like a roman candle,” Tidd said. “Once it reached a certain point, we went into survival mode to keep it from spreading.”
    The building was a total loss. Tidd said he believed the business had some insurance, but it was not likely to cover all of the items lost in the blaze. Inside the building were numerous personal and antique items that had been collected over the years.