Staff Writer
FORT FAIRFIELD — A lightning strike early Monday morning is being blamed for a fire at the ReEnergy bio-fuel plant, formerly Boralex, located on the Cheney Grove Road.
A LIGHTNING STRIKE caused damage to the ReEnergy plant on Cheney Grove Road in Fort Fairfield Monday, with crews from more than half a dozen fire departments responding to put out the blaze. The fire began on the eighth floor’s woodchip conveyor belt and hopper, then quickly spread, taking crews about six hours to extinguish.
“At 4:18 a.m. July 16 the Fort Fairfield Fire Department was dispatched to a commercial structure fire at ReEnergy on Cheney Grove Road. On arrival, crews discovered lightning had struck the building causing a fire on the eighth floor’s woodchip conveyor belt and hopper,” said Lt. Jesse Bell, Aroostook Fire Protection District 1, Fort Fairfield Fire Rescue.
Bell said the lightning strike also knocked out the facility’s own fire suppression systems and electricity.
“Crews faced intense heat and difficult access. The fire spread from the eighth floor up into the walls and to the roof,” Bell said.
The fire took approximately six hours to extinguish, with mutual aid provided by several departments from Aroostook and New Brunswick.
“Automatic mutual aid at the time of the alarm was provided by Limestone and Loring, with additional aid from Caribou, Presque Isle, Easton, Van Buren and Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, was requested to assist. Crown Ambulance stood by at the scene and assisted with rehabilitation of fatigued firefighters,” said Bell.
Three engines, two tankers, two rescue units, seven support vehicles and 40 firefighters responded to the scene.
“There were no firefighter or civilian injuries. ReEnergy is insured and company officials are still assessing how much damage the blaze caused,” said Bell.
The Town Office had no information on whether the plant was operational at the time of the fire. Calls to the company for an estimate on damage went unanswered as of presstime.
