LEWISTON – Hoppy Harrington is in his 70s, and he doesn’t walk so well. When smoke filled his apartment above the Hurricane Club early Friday, he was half-asleep and confused.

Fortunately, employees at another bar across the street keep an eye on Hoppy and they were quick to his rescue.

“I told my bouncer, Go over there and see what you can do,'” said Sylvio Martin, owner of Mom and Pop’s Place, on the other side of Lisbon Street. “He went over and carried Hoppy out of there.”

The heroic bouncer is 36-year-old Jeffrey Glover. Police credited him with helping Officer Hart Daley haul Harrington out of his apartment as smoke filled the building.

“When we kicked the door in, Hoppy was disoriented. He didn’t know what was going on,” Glover said Friday night. “I got in front of him and put him over my back. The officer got him by the legs and we carried him down the stairs. By the time we got him outside, the apartment was filled with smoke.”

Harrington was released from the hospital later Friday. Like nine other people who live above the Hurricane at 308 Lisbon St., he was staying at a motel Friday night with the help of the American Red Cross. He could not be reached for comment.

“We take care of Hoppy,” Martin said. “This is like his home. We watch out for him.”

On lower Lisbon Street, it was quiet early Friday night. The Hurricane Club was dark. At Mom and Pop’s Place across the street, bar patrons were shaking Glover’s hand and making him retell his account of the rescue.

Glover, who is new to the city, shrugged off the praise. At the fire scene, the police had handed him a commemorative medallion given to people who perform heroically. As far as Glover was concerned, however, he was only acting as any friend would when he rushed to Harrington’s aid.

“I’ve walked Hoppy home many times before,” he said. “He’s a great guy. I only did what I’d want someone else to do for me if I was in that kind of trouble

It was unknown Friday night when displaced tenants would be able to return to their apartments. It was also unknown when the Hurricane would reopen for business.

Investigators said the early-morning fire was caused by a burning cigarette smoldering in a trash can at about closing time.

“The bartender accidentally dumped an ashtray into a trash can behind the bar,” said Lewiston fire Investigator Paul Ouellette. “She realized her mistake and grabbed a cigarette butt out of the trash, figuring that would take care of the problem.”

Instead, embers continued to smolder in the trash until fire blazed inside the bar. Investigators said the cement floor, ceiling and walls inside the club helped prevent the flames from spreading further throughout the building.

“It wasn’t able to penetrate to the upper floors,” Ouellette said.

Unfortunately, the cement also trapped heat and smoke inside the small bar, causing a television, light fixtures and trophies to melt.

“The the firefighters got inside, it was extremely hot,” Ouellette said. “The building sustained extensive heat and smoke damage.”

A water pipe in the ceiling burst under the extreme heat, and gushing water helped douse the flames, Ouellette said. Still, by the time firefighters subdued the blaze, it had caused an estimated $50,000 damage to the building. According to a fire inspector, the building was insured.

The half-dozen apartments above the club were uninhabitable because of smoke damage, Ouellette said. The Treasure Chest, an adult novelty store next to the Hurricane, was spared major damage.

When the fire was first reported, men and women who live above the bar scurried out of their homes. Some had time to get dressed, others wrapped themselves in blankets. They huddled around the fire scene or took refuge in a building a block away.

The Salvation Army and the Maine People’s Alliance helped the Red Cross find housing for the displaced tenants.

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