Susan-
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City
'History burning' Fire consumes Cowan Mill
Jul 16, 2009 12:00 am
To see user-sumbited photos of the fire, or to share your own, visit our photo pool on Flickr.
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Only the skeleton of the Cowan Mill remains as firefighters get the fire under control on Wednesday.
- Daryn Slover
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Lewiston firefighters battle the Cowan Mill Fire on Wednesday.
- Daryn Slover
Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal
The Cowan Mill burning, taken around 4 p.m.
Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal
Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal
Photo taken of the Cowan Mill around 4 p.m.
Justin Pelletier/Sun Journal
Flames shoot from the windows at the Cowan Mill at Island Point in downtown Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday. The fire had fullyt engulfed the building by the time fire crews got to the scene around 4 p.m.
- Justin Pelletier
Daryn Slover/Sun Journal
Embers from the Cowan Mill fire ignite the roof of the Bates Mill No. 5, right, in Lewiston on Wednesday.
- Daryn SloverLEWISTON — Chaos spread across the city Wednesday afternoon as the Cowan Mill on the shore of the Androscoggin River went up in flames. Buildings around it were showered with falling cinders.
Hours later, firefighters were still battling flames at the demolished mill. Local, state and federal investigators were searching for suspects, but no arrests were expected Wednesday night.
At 4 p.m., flames began shooting from the upper floors of the mill next to Longley Bridge. Within 15 minutes, most of the roof had collapsed and what sounded like thunder roared as walls and floors came tumbling down.
Thousands of people stood on the sides of Main Street watching the intense fire grow bigger, unaware that another building had caught fire behind them.
That happened at about 4:20 p.m. when embers from the burning Cowan Mill floated down onto the roof of Bates Mill No. 5, setting the saw-tooth-roofed building across the street on fire.
Auburn firefighters rushed to that scene to snuff out the flames before they could engulf Mill No. 5. Meanwhile, there were reports that fires were starting at the building housing Espo's Restaurant, close to the burning Cowan Mill.
"Our concern right now is for other roofs and other buildings," said Lewiston police Chief Michael Bussiere, who was trying to help control a crowd of several thousand that clogged the downtown. "We've got major issues with traffic control."
Police were going onto rooftops all over the downtown to look for fallen embers in hopes of preventing further fires from starting. Bussiere said he called in his morning watch to increase police manpower in the city.
Meanwhile, near Cowan Mill, witnesses stood incredulous at how ferocious the fire there was burning and how quickly it had started.
"I've never seen anything like it in all my life," said Kathy Cyr, who works at a nearby bank.
A moment after she said it, there was a rolling explosion from across the street.
"Oh, wow," Cyr said. "There goes the roof."
By late Wednesday night, police were searching for at least three people to question them about the blaze. No arrests had been made by 10 p.m.
Around that time, a team of investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had arrived in Lewiston to join police and the Fire Marshal's Office in the investigation.
"With a big fire like this, it's not uncommon to have those two agencies come into the investigation," Chief Bussiere said. "The more investigators we have, the better."
Firefighters remained at the scene of the blaze deep into the night, firing jets of water into what had been reduced to a shell of partial brick walls.
Lewiston fire investigators and officials from the State Fire Marshal's Office were waiting to enter the burned ruins so they could search for clues to the origin of the blaze.
The first on the scene said it did not appear the fire started small. There were no witnesses who reported smoke before they saw flames. It seemed to happen all at once.
"That was no smoldering situation," said Betty Lebel of Sabattus. She was one of dozens who called 911 after spotting the inferno while driving past.
"Smoke and flames were coming out of the second level," Lebel said. "To see it burning that intensely with no firetrucks around ... It was terrible."
Firefighters were there moments later. They surrounded the building and doused it with jets of water, but it was clear the mostly abandoned building was going to be destroyed. The flames roaring through the gutted building grew larger even as the firefighting effort intensified.
"When it flares up, you can feel the heat," said Randall Smith, who was standing at least 200 yards away in a Main Street parking lot.
Lewiston fire Inspector Paul Ouellette interviewed at least two people within minutes of the first report of fire. A handful of police detectives were questioning others and videotaping the crowd for possible use later in their investigation.
At about 4:15 p.m., police sent out an alert to officers here and in other cities, advising them of the two teenagers being sought in connection with the blaze.
The Cowan Mill building recently fell into the hands of local businessman Martin Finley.
"It's one of our greatest landmarks," said Rachel Desgrosseilliers, who works at a nearby museum. "It was one of the first ones here. We're trying to save them, and now this. It's sad. That's history burning."
By 5 p.m., Cowan Mill was still in flames, but the blaze on the roof of the massive Mill No. 5 had been snuffed out.
"Great job," Bussiere said to Auburn fire Chief Wayne Werts. "This is one of the largest structures in the state. If that had gone up. too, we'd have some serious problems."
mlaflamme@sunjournal.com
Comments
Susan- Does Fox serve as an
Submitted by will.davis on Sat, 07/18/2009 - 21:21.
Donna Lewiston officials
Submitted by Breakingnews99 on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 13:13.
Donna
Lewiston officials were recently speaking with Sheraton hotel officials about that piece of property. The property was just reassessed for insurance reasons just a few weeks ago. And the people who will investigate the blaze work for the state. just a few things that make you go....uhmmm.
The cowan mill has not had
Submitted by jadair on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 15:55.
The cowan mill has not had insurance on it for at least ten years.
THIS NEW FORMAT IS
Submitted by Winterbear98 on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 09:47.
THIS NEW FORMAT IS UNREADABLE BRING BACK THE OLD NEWSPAPER
Here's the text of an email
Submitted by sc22 on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 09:44.
Here's the text of an email I recently sent to SJ. Just my pet peeves and kudos for the new site:
I like the look of the site better now than before (I like the new colors – much better than black). However, there are some features lacking on the new site. For example, the search feature isn't as advanced. I liked being able to search by date, category, etc. I’m not sure it’s a complete search either. For example, I just did a search on “Maineiacs” and today's article about the coaching changes did not appear in the response list.
Also, I have not yet found the "breaking news" section of your new website. Before, there were new headlines and articles each afternoon predominantly displayed on the home page. I would visit your site many afternoons just to see what is new.
I’m still getting used to the navigation, but there was a link on the home page to bring readers directly to Lewiston/Auburn news articles. I now have 2 clicks to get there... dynamic drop down boxes for each of the tabs at the top of the home page would make this so much easier. For example, hover mouse over "News" and see a list of regions to click on.
On story pages, the banner ad at the top and the large Sun Journal logo take up a lot of real estate on the screen – more than a third of my screen in fact. This causes readers to have to do a bunch of scrolling downward to see their stories. If there’s a way to reduce the heading height somehow, it would make your site easier to read. If K & R Auto has an ad on the right side of the screen, do they need to also have one at the top?
Anyway, just stuff I've been pondering the last few weeks... thought I would let you know.
UPDATE: Got a response - thanked me and said many of these items they are already working on. So, it's a work-in-progress, don't give up on the site yet!
I have to agree with the
Submitted by crash694 on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 09:13.
I have to agree with the readers on this site. Befor you use to be able to navigate and see what you wanted, like obits, Lewistion/Auburn section plus many other. Now this really sucks to the max. And you wonder why people stop buying newspapers, Cause if new people come to town or what ever and see how this site is. You think that will bring you more readers. Think not.
Some time it is best to leave thing as is. Remember the old saying, "If it ant't broke don't fix it"
I stop comming to this page and now read the www.wsj.com page, You, the sun and journal should look at it. it work really well and they also know on there doing
Only came to see the fire and read on Bennet
See yeah
Agreed, this new website
Submitted by Brian on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 07:12.
Agreed, this new website sucks!
I must agree that the new
Submitted by Hymn on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 06:57.
I must agree that the new layout is not user friendly at all. Designers should really look at the results of the redesign and FIX it.
The only reason I registered
Submitted by telestrat on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 07:11.
The only reason I registered was to complain about the new design... very slow, very unattractive, whoever designed this needs to get some education on web design.
I think your coverage was
Submitted by rthurlow on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 06:50.
I think your coverage was fine. I'm glad we can enlarge the still photos now, but I agree that the site is less user friendly now.
As spectacular as it seems
Submitted by INLINE4NUT on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 06:17.
As spectacular as it seems this building burning wasnt really BIG news a building that hasnt done anything for either city for so long is gone now maybe something can be done on the site!!! I am Happy that not one FIREFIGHTER was HURT !! Great Job done !!
Now on another note SJ youve done a GREAT job coverung the fire my only gripe is your new website its horrorable !!! I liked your old site much better and confess I now read more of the PPH I feel its much more user friendly ! Tweek this thing !!
Sad to see it burned down,
Submitted by Robert61 on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 22:04.
Sad to see it burned down, over the years several people had come up with proposals to turn it into condos, a hotel or upscale apartments. Lets hope the culprits are found and brought to justice.
Dear MaineLitigator, Are you
Submitted by sthistle on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 21:33.
Dear MaineLitigator,
Are you kidding me? Look at the PPH site? http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=268393&ac=PHnws. They have a brief AP report and nothing else. The AP photo is an SJ photo that moved on the AP wire early on. The PPH is a great Maine newspaper, with a great staff and good people and they cover their area very well, but I hope you never become a judge because you aren't really looking at the evidence in the case of this story.
Our coverage of this story will continue for several more days and as an editor here I promise you we will have more staff assigned to this story, which is important to our community, than any other news outlet in New England. If you click on our live blog coverage above you would also see we kept a conversation going with readers for several hours this p.m. Real editors and reporters answering questions on the fire, traffic, the history of the building and so forth. More than 1,600 people joined that conversation today. The PPH has a total of 5 reader comments, two from the same reader, at this time, about 10:30 p.m.
I'd be happy to answer any coverage questions you have any time. E-mail me at sthistle@sunjournal.com call me with your suggestions, ideas and comments.
My kindest regards,
Scott Thistle
Regional Editor
207-689-2849
I'm so glad you chimed in
Submitted by DonaldR on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 23:14.
I'm so glad you chimed in here. After reading MaineLitigator's post, and subsequently checking out PPH I thought I had entered the twilight zone. I work just a few buildings up from the fire, and hightailed it out of there about 4:15 due to the precarious conditions. Got home (an hour later), logged in here and was amazed at the extensive coverage. You folks did a terrific job, and I for one, appreciate it greatly. Good job...
Well, I enjoyed the "cover
Submitted by DonaldR on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 21:23.
Well, I enjoyed the "cover it live" feature. Did you look at that? It can be replayed. BTW, there were MANY more comments earlier...don't know what happened to those. And no, I don't work for the SJ, or want to either.
I'm sorry to have to agree
Submitted by MaineLitigator on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 21:05.
I'm sorry to have to agree with expat. Although the Sun Journal is my hometown newspaper I read Portland's Press Herald's site for my local news. This will continue to be the case.
The mini "film" of the fire is extremely indulgent. Credits for an editor on news footage? Really?
The exposure is thin, and with the Sun Journal being within walking distance is sadly, just inexcusable.
There are more comments (at this moment) on the Press Herald site.
Good luck to the Sun Journal.
The times they are a-changin'
*I'm adding that Mark LaFlamme is a top-notch reporter. Please assign him to take over the site. Please assign him to anything. He is the sole reason I kept my subscription after enduring the 'saving money' series.
The earlier story and other
Submitted by preaves on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 22:12.
The earlier story and other comments were here: http://www.sunjournal.com/node/35568/ . We replaced it with Mark's story after he filed it.
MaineLitigator, we welcome your comments and suggestions (and that goes for any of our readers). What would you suggest would make our coverage of this story better?
I'd like to know how come
Submitted by sheesh on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 08:42.
I'd like to know how come I'm not seeing the story of the man that was killed @ Oxford Plains Speedway last night? And why is your site so very slow today? Where is the archive section? I know tons of ? but these are questions. Thank You
I agree the new online is
Submitted by mooshellmum1 on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 21:20.
I agree the new online is terrible. Bring back the old one or choose a new hosting site. BOOO
The SJ has done a phenomenal
Submitted by DonaldR on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 19:27.
The SJ has done a phenomenal job covering this epic inferno. That said, it's heartbreaking to lose this piece of history and unique character that makes up a part of the twin cities. Call me sentimental, but I'll miss being greeted by that beautiful and mysterious old building when I cross the bridge to work. She was a tough old gal, and held many cherished memories of the cornerstones of this community. I feel like I've lost an old friend...
Stay tuned expat. More info
Submitted by staylor on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 17:45.
Stay tuned expat. More info is coming.
staylor@sunjournal.com
S/J come on, allow us to
Submitted by expat on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 17:41.
S/J come on, allow us to enlarge the static pictures. You are doing us that live "away" a dis service. What a waste this new web page is. Guess I'll need to go and check the Portland TV sites to get real pictures.
Hey What happened to the
Submitted by Hymn on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 16:33.
Hey What happened to the images from earlier?
What happened to the coverage that was on here? One minute there were pictures on line and now there gone.
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Prints too small for
Prints too small for me....
This Liberal paper only reports Liberal biased news. There's no balance or TRUTH that hurts and fluff. Most Press and Print in America is Liberal and they are all tanking too! People want the UNBIASED news on TV or in newspapers. Have you seen media ratings lately? Only one station between NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNBC CNN, and Fox is going up in ratings at a fast pace. The rest are tanking and RIGHTFULLY SO!
Obama is bailing out all the crappy Newspapers and Magazine.
He should let them go under and have better people start up a newspaper or magazine. But then again he is the most Liberal person in government.
How's he doing? LOL