LISBON – Fifty firefighters from four towns gained some valuable training early Sunday morning at a controlled burn when the old Building Supply Store on Route 196 was burned to make way for a new shopping mall.

The 250-foot-long, 30-foot-wide building was originally constructed by the late Walter Huston, a well-known local developer, and in later years, converted into a mini-mall housing five businesses, which were recently relocated in order to make way for a new mall.

Participating in the controlled-burn were firemen from Lisbon, Durham, Bowdoin and Sabattus fire departments.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, the building was used for ventilation training by Lisbon and Lisbon Falls firemen, Deputy Fire Chief Mike Robitaille said, which consisted of venting for search and rescue for firemen who may be trapped inside a smoke-filled building.

Additional training was done with Yarmouth firemen on Saturday. “All training was done in a controlled atmosphere and in accordance with state and NFPA standards,” he said.

All surrounding property owners were notified of the burn in advance, including nearby Steven’s Auto Sales and Body Shop, which moved all vehicles out of the general area during the fire. The building was set afire shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday and it took about 1 hours for the blaze to spread from one end of the building to the other, Fire Chief P. Sean Galipeau said. A majority of the firemen cleared the scene at noon. The building smoldered throughout the afternoon and was being monitored.

During the fire, Route 196 traffic was re-directed through the nearby Midtown Shopping Center parking lot. Many area residents got up early on Sunday in order to watch and take pictures of what some described as a “bit of local history” go up in flames.

Ground preparation for a new $2.5 million mall, which will house a new Food City grocery Store, triple the size of the current store; a Sam’s Italian Sandwich Shop and a Dunkin’ Donuts, is already underway. The new mall will consist of two buildings with a total of 33,000 square feet on 6.1 acres. The new Food City is expected to provide 40 jobs, and Sam’s and Dunkin’ Donuts, 15 each.

The building and adjacent property was recently purchased by Gendron Realty of Lewiston, which allowed firemen to use it for the fire training exercises.